SheXO Club 

Women’s leadership and empowerment

The ratio of directors of listed companies occupied by women in Japan level is extremely low compared to other countries, and one cannot help but say that Japan is behind when it comes to women's career development.

Why is there a need for female leaders in the first place? Where there is bias in decision making due to stagnation of diversity in the management levels that steer an organization, even if diversity for the organization as a whole is secured, it cannot be truly put to full use. Against this background, gender diversity in management levels in particular has been gathering attention in recent years. It is clear that securing diversity is necessary for growth, and it will be key for Japanese companies in the future to have female directors that enhance company value and become next-generation career models through demonstrating leadership from a high vantage point.

The Deloitte Tohmatsu Group has been providing empowerment activities and a network where women can bring out the best in each other in order to support them in being empowered as leaders in each industry/company, along with encouraging women’s participation in management .

Becoming a source of support for female leaders

The Deloitte Tohmatsu Group's activities aimed toward empowerment of female executives began with the "Women in Finance" program, which started in 2017.

This is a program targeted toward female CFOs (Chief Finance Officers) that began from the desire to provide a place for female CFOs with the same concerns from different companies to gather, share daily challenges, and draw out solutions. Its establishment was inspired by the many comments from female CFOs heard when conducting CFO interviews, in which interviewees said that they sometimes felt isolated or estranged due to their status as women. While continuing many various initiatives in “Women in Finance” since its establishment, we received many requests to expand beyond the area of finance, and have increased the breadth of our measures with the new "SheXO Club".
For details of "Women in Finance", please visit HERE.

Having started up against this sort of background, SheXO Club reviewed its format of activities to focus on workshops that have received positive reviews in its activities up until now, before conducting its launching presentation in January 2020. At SheXO Club, we utilize the abundant knowledge and experience of global Deloitte Groups - not limited only to that of Japan's Deloitte Tohmatsu Group - to provide contents that will be useful to all female executives regardless of industry or occupation.

Global measures

SheXO Club is developing activities outside of Japan as well. In Poland, approximately 450 female executives participate in SheXO Club, and are building a strong network through seminars and business meetings. In China, as well, they have announced the establishment of a SheXO Club, and its activities are spreading in Deloitte's global network - contributing to securing diversity and furthering the empowerment of female leaders through mutual growth created by organic connections.

SheXO Club activities

We hold participation-format activities semi-annually, targeted toward female leaders with varied experience as well as next-generation leaders. Participation in activities is not limited only to women. Executives from companies promoting women's career development may join as well, so that various differing opinions can be shared.

For the topics we deal with, we will incorporate the opinions of the participants, and will take up subjects that are of high interest to leaders in a variety of industries and fields, such as social issues in Japan, the recruitment market, rearing of successors, trends in the digital market, and diversity. Through the theme-based roundtables and workshops, we hope that participants will be able to come in contact with the views of people in different industries and fields of expertise and receive hints that can be used in the future.

＜Examples of activity＞

The Launch reception ended with a great success.

The launch reception of female CxO network "SheXO Club" was held with the participation of approximately 25 female executives and the next generation of leaders.

The guest speaker of Ms. Toshie Ikenaga, Director-General, Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, gave a keynote speech. It became an opportunity for participants to think about the promotion of women's career development and diversity in the future of Japanese society. There were the lively interactions among the participants, and we have received gratifying feedback that they would definitely like to participate again next time.

-Overview-

Date & Time: Friday, January 17, 2020 3:30pm-6:30pm
Venue: Deloitte Greenhouse Tokyo, Marunouchi Nijubashi building

-Program-

3:30pm Introduction of SheXO Club, current situation of women's advancement

Rie Okubo/ SheXO Club Chair, Partner, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC

3:40pm Future of Work

Nicole Scoble-Williams / Partner and Asia Pacific Future of Work Leader, Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting LLC

4:00pm Keynote speech "Government initiatives to promote the women's advancement"

Ms. Toshie Ikenaga/ Director-General, Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan

4:40pm Opinion sharing

5:30pm Closing remark

Yoriko Goto/Chair of Board, Deloitte Tohmatsu Group and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC