06Vol.

日本女性エグゼクティブ協会

2015.08.01

NEWS Letter

http: // www.jafe.jp /JAFE Special Seminar Held
The Japan Association for Female Executives (JAFE) held a special seminarwith Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Yasuhisa Shiozaki as the guest
speaker. Despite his busy schedule with the Diet in session, Minister Shiozaki
kindly found time to attend the seminar. He spoke on the theme of “Women andSocial Security System Reform” and, in particular, explained the future
direction of government policy in great detail. Afterwards, he welcomed
questions from the audience and responded with elaborate answers.

Excerpts from Minister Shiozaki’s Address at the Seminar◆ Current status of women in the workplace
Among the political appointees serving in the three level of leadership positions in the Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare, both of the two state ministers and one of the parliamentary vice-ministers are women. In addition, the postof administrative vice minister is being occupied by a woman and so is the post of special adviser to the minister. The
percentage of women in managerial posts—i.e., directors and those with higher positions—in the ministry increased
from 6.7% last year to 7.1% this year. In terms of the number of new hires, women account for 34.6 percent of thosefor “comprehensive service” positions, i.e., those tasked with non-clerical tasks.
As to the situation in the private sector, the so-called “M-curve” phenomenon, which refers to the M-shaped curve of
the female labor force participation plotted according to age, somewhat weakened last year. However, the percentageof women in regular full-time employment is not on the rise. In line with the government's efforts to promote men'sparticipation in childrearing and make household support services more accessible, the proposed law for the promotion of women's empowerment, currently deliberated at the Diet, would make it mandatory for large companies todevelop plans for the empowerment of women at work.
◆ Social security system reform
The national health insurance program will be operated locally with prefectural governments taking over the responsibility for financial operations and other management tasks from the central government. By 2025, prefectural governments
will set forth plans for the provision of medical care services within their respective regions, which will be complemented
by community-wide comprehensive care systems to be developed by municipalities (cities, towns, and villages). All
those measures are designed to establish a new mechanism under which prefectural governments will maintain theresponsibility for the provision of medical services as well as for the management of the health insurance program fortheir residents, and thereby to address structural problems with the current national health insurance program.
◆ Japan Vision: Health Care 2035
This vision was established in order to rebuild Japan’s health care system, not simply for the sake of reducing theburden of medical expenses and cutting back on health care benefits, but with aims to: improve the quality of healthcare services; realize a highly innovative system, for instance, by shifting to a medical fee system based on
performance measured by relevant outcome indicators; and contribute to the nation’s economic and fiscal management.
◆ Child poverty
Under the banner of a national movement to support the future of children initiated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aspart of his government’s efforts to tackle child poverty, various measures are being undertaken by both the public
and private sectors. These include the establishment of a system to provide one-stop support services for single-parent families. Also, the government is well aware of the need to revise the Child Welfare Act, which dates back to 1947.

06

NEWS LetterVol.

2015

08.01

ReportIntroduction of Members

Special Event:

JAFE cherry blossom
viewing seminar held
On April 1, 2015, the cherry blossom viewing seminar was held at Tsunamachi Mitsui Club to enjoy a night view of cherry blossoms in full bloom,
inviting highly successful JAFE members as guest speakers. The threespeakers were: Ms. Haruno Yoshida, president of BT Japan who has been
appointed as the first female vice chairman of Keidanren’s Board of Councillors; Ms. Mitsue Kurihara who became the first internally promoted memberof the Audit & Supervisory Board at the Development Bank of Japan; andMs. Asako Hoshino, the first female senior vice president of Nissan MotorCorporation. Led by Ms. Yuriko Koike, a member of the House of Representatives, as the moderator, the three guest speakers shared their experiences
before assuming their current posts as the first woman to do so.

Ms. Masako Mori
Honorary Member of JAFE andMember of the House of Councillors
In April 2015, Ms. Masako Mori was seated among the House and Senatemembers and listened as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a historicaladdress to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. She feels that theJapanese government’s commitment to the empowerment of women, which
has been defined as one of the core components of the growth strategy, isdrawing a great deal of attention from politicians and economists fromaround the world. She place high expectations on JAFE members to takeon greater roles, noting that women’s power is needed to enable Japan toachieve fiscal stability and economic growth.

Ms. Masae Yamanaka
Corporate Executive and VP&GM, Special Demand Development Division,
Sales and Marketing Development Division, LIXIL Japan Company
Ms. Masae Yamanaka did not give up and carried on working as a memberof corporate sales staff at IBM Japan in those year when women werealienated in the male-dominated world of business. Subsequently, she left
IBM Japan for a sales management job at Microsoft Japan, before joining
LIXIL Corporation in July 2014. She assumed the current position in April
2015, tackling the task of sales management at the housing equipment
manufacturer, a new field of business. Outside of her career, she is living afulfilling life with her husband and their two-and-a-half-year-old son.

Photo (c) aki nakazonoh

visit uwwws at.jafe.

jp

Notice: Fourth JAFE Seminar
Guest speaker: Mr. Fumio Kishida, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Time and date: Thursday, September 17, 2015
7:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:00 p.m.)
Venue: Tokyo American Club, Manhattan III room
To Subscribe

JAFE Secretariat

http://www.jafe.jp/seminar/150917.html

Japan Association for Female Executives

Attn: NPO Poppins Secretariat c/o Poppins Corporation, Hiroo Plaza 5F, 5-6-6 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0012 Japan

Phone: 03-6450-4880 E-mail: info＠jafe.jp www.jafe.jp