Female athletes have been doing their part to add to Japan's Olympic medal tally. Now, the Japan Olympic Committee has moved to get more involved in supporting them.
The JOC recently created a special website to encourage the promotion of more females into leadership positions within national sports organizations. The site not only publishes interviews and lists of women currently holding executive positions and information on education and enlightenment, it also aims to serve as a sort of "human resource bank."
J.League senior official Kuniko Muramatsu, one of eight prominent women whose interview is featured on the website, analyzes what she saw as her role with the pro soccer league.
"As I knew almost nothing [about soccer], I think I was expected to make observations from a different perspective," says Muramatsu, a longtime official of a foreign-affiliated company who apparently had never once been to a stadium before she became a member of the J.League board of directors in 2014.
"I look forward to responding to change, and feel it is important to broaden the horizons of my career."
According to a summary compiled by the Cabinet Office, in fiscal 2019 there were 67 sports federations that had either full or associate membership in the JOC or were sanctioned by it. Among those organizations, women held just 14.24% of the executive position of board director or the equivalent.
From the JOC's perspective, "It's not a matter of lack of talent, it's how each organization can find it, or not knowing how in the first place," said a JOC official. "That's the reality."
For that purpose, the website lists about 50 women with experience as a corporate executive, presenting their occupation and work history, as well as any special qualifications. If a sports organization has an inquiry, the JOC will act as a bridge to facilitate the appointment of the woman as an official.
In addition, the website lists and explains terms and concepts such as "glass ceiling," used in relation to women being denied advancement in their careers, and "sexual harassment in the sports world."
By reflecting the views of women in places where sports organizations make vital decisions, such as sports administration and the selection of athletes for competitions, it can be expected to also play a role in preventing incidents of harassment.
"We want men to also view [the website] and start a revolution to change the current mind-set," the JOC said.
Subhead: Japan lags far behind
Among advanced countries from 2013-14, Norway led the way in terms of the percentage of women in executive roles of sports organizations with 37.4%, according to the Cabinet Office's White Paper on Gender Equality 2018.
The United States, Australia, Canada and Iceland all exceeded 25%. But Japan lagged far behind, with just 8.4% in the JOC and member and affiliated groups of the Japan Sports Association.
In fiscal 2016, the figure was 10.31% for member groups of the JOC. While there has been a steady increase, the number was still short of 15% in fiscal 2019. The International Working Group on Women and Sport, a global organization promoting gender equality in sports, has urged that the proportion of women in executive positions be raised above 40% by 2020, but the reality is that Japan falls well short of that ideal.
Overseas, a British government agency in 2006 created a leadership program for women. As they came up with an individual plan for each participant, methods were devised to support their development and build connections, such as attending international conferences.
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