Imagine working in a country where societal norms have historically dictated that men lead in the workforce while women shoulder household responsibilities. For many professionals in Japan, this remains an enduring reality. Mika Magoshi, a seasoned executive and thought leader in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), has witnessed firsthand the struggles of women, minorities, and even men attempting to redefine traditional roles. Her journey reflects a broader narrative of transformation and resilience, one that resonates deeply with leaders and innovators across Asia’s business landscape.
In the rapidly evolving corporate world, where innovation and inclusion are key drivers of success, DEI is not merely a buzzword—it’s a necessity. As Mika Magoshi shares her personal experiences and professional insights, her story shines a light on how companies, leaders, and individuals can work together to break down barriers, empower diverse voices, and create a more inclusive future for everyone.
Key Takeaways:
- Leaders must believe in the value of diversity and recognize that while it may complicate decision-making, it enriches discussions and drives innovation.
- Women in the workplace benefit greatly from mentors who provide guidance and encouragement. Acting with confidence and navigating biases tactically are essential to overcoming traditional workplace barriers.
- Transforming deeply rooted social norms—like the unequal division of labor at home—requires systemic support, from family-friendly workplace policies to a shift in societal attitudes toward gender roles.
Table of contents
Breaking Bias: Addressing Gender and Workplace Inequities
Q: How do the country’s unique corporate culture and social norms influence diversity and inclusion in Japan? And what strategies have you found most effective in navigating these challenges?
A: I think, in Japan, I think mostly we are, we have been a kind of farthest from the diversity side, at least in the working space because mostly the business area had been dominated by man, but also the social existence. So the guy is working outside and women are working inside to raise, to manage the household thing and raise the child. I think that is, you might be surprised, but that’s a very sticky idea to people’s mind, even in this era. Regarding the men and women thing, also applies for the sexual minority. Those areas also, not until very recently, we haven’t talked about that issue much.
If we think about productivity, it’s easier to work with very similar people. People think in the same way, people are in the same situation, so that’s very easy. For example, if the women are working, there are dominant people who are men and who have the family. Even men who has family, their responsibility is mainly in the workspace, so, their wives are doing everything at home. But if the women are working, and if she has a family, she has to do the same thing at workplace, but also she has another responsibility at the household as well. Many people say, especially the people who don’t experience that issue, not my thing, my problem. This is a very sticky social norm. We cannot change that only at home. Actually, the women were working two jobs, outside and also inside the home.
I’m working in Tokyo, Japan – also I have been working for large companies. For the last 10 years, it has been changing, the landscape in Japan, between the idea of men and women working. In Tokyo, this area is very ahead. I think about the small companies or small corporations on the local side, not in Tokyo, which those issues are stronger. So, if we look at the Japan overall, the situation is unfortunately worse.
It’s difficult to generalize, for example, it doesn’t happen to me. Some people say that if both men and women are working and get married and have a child, somebody has to take care of the children. Of course, they can use nurseries or something, so they don’t have to care for everything. However, they have to bring their children to nursery – take them, pick them up – somebody has to do that. In most cases, women are the one doing that, not until recently the fathers are doing that too.
If you have to pick up the children at, for example, 6 pm, which means you have to finish the work at some point. You have to make the colleagues understand that I have to finish the work here and maybe I can compensate it or I can back it up later or early in the next morning or something. I think that they’re difficult to change – why it takes time to change is that the people are pushing the responsibility to the individuals. So now is the time the culture should change.
Q: What role does executive search like you play in advancing this diversity and inclusion in the leadership position?
A: We can make women work in a more different way. The idea came to me because I had been struggling in that area. So even though I had an education and had the capability to do that, when I got married with my husband, he understood me very well and he didn’t stop me from working. He tried to help me. Once we started raising a child, even though he wanted to help me, even though he’s willing, his colleague asked him, “what’s wrong with your wife?” for example, when he had to pick up our child from the nursery. Those things happen. I need to support the younger generation and to do a better job in the working area, so that’s my mission.
On the executive search, I work with the client and the candidates. On the client’s side, of course, if I have the chance, I would recommend the women. Fortunately, the company I’ve been working with and the client’s company, because I’m working in Tokyo and with large corporations, they know that women are capable. Sometimes, though, the working environment is the one not good for women.
On the candidate’s side, sometimes I realize that they are like me 10 years ago! What I mean is women need to behave a little bit tactically – if you are a smart person, it’s good to say that you are smart. Not only saying that, but also behaving the same way. If you are a woman, sometimes people take it differently than men. For example, a man can be proactive, but a woman can be labeled aggressive. Those biases that I know very well, that’s what I’m trying to fix.
In Asia, maybe that’s a common issue and culture. When women are in a natural condition, they are very active and talkative, in a good way, but while they are working in the Japanese company or culture, they try not to show those things – and this will affect the job interviews. In this area, I help those people to do a better job at showing their confidence and ability.
Q: Knowing that this kind of bias and this kind of discrimination towards women and also a lot of this comparison between men and women in the workplace, how do you define work well-being in the context of Asia’s fast evolving business landscape and how can we implement that?
A: The difficult thing, this is generally speaking, people has different values. So what is wellbeing for them is different. I think, personally, work well-being is the balance thing. Sometimes people mention that, but sometimes people work and life is very difficult to separate. To me, I want to separate those two to some exten. Even though I like working, I also keep my private life separated. That is not bad or wrong.
The important thing is that we understand what other people’s well-being and try to make it happen for them. So I will try not to push my idea of separating work and life because some people prefer putting it together – and that’s okay. I think it’s important to understand and try to accept each other, and that’s the starting point of diversity and inclusion.
I think controlling the situation is very important part in work well-being. You cannot accept everything, you will be exhausted. As long as you are working with some people in a company, you need to compromise to some part, right? Once you lose the controlability, I think you will be so unhappy. There are many things like long hours, salary, or other aspects, but as long as you can control the part of the work, you can keep yourself kind of healthy.
Q: What qualities do you believe leaders must possess to manage and this increasingly diverse team that has different ideas?
A: The start point and the key value is for people to believe in diversity. In the opposite side of diversity is unified area. Productivity wise, that’s very productive because people think the same way, people work the same way. If you think about productivity, the diversity is something they don’t like because that will make it complicated; the decision making, people have many different ideas so you have to discuss something. If there’s only one rule, that would be easier to manage.
There is a famous episode of a male politician who’s alreaedy 70 years old. He once was the prime minister and now he is retired, but still he has some power to organize party and that affect the government. The important positions are dominated by the men only, so they want to introduce the women, but he said if we have a woman, then it takes more time to decide everything, they speak a lot. He didn’t understand the value of the diversity in that sense. This is a very notorious story maybe four or five years ago and I think that’s the typical thing people think about diversity.
Leader should really understand this. It’s difficult to say that I don’t care about productivity or the efficiency, but at the same time, you have to think about the result of the discussion, the quality of the discussion. To have diverse people, even though takes time, it is important. That’s a starting point that sometimes missing.
Furthermore, leaders who doesn’t have the experience to become a minority, they mostly don’t understand it. It’s really unfortunate – but to become a leader, usually you have to come from the majority. They cannot materialize, or really understand diversity from their own point because they don’t have the experience. For example, when you are studying abroad, you cannot speak english very well and you realize that you are not the majority in that area. If you have a talent to imagine, you can understand other’s situation. Without any experience, however, it will be very difficult.
Same with the condition that a lot of men are dominating busines. Now, when they put women on leadership position, without many similar experiences, not many women understand how to. There are no evidence that women are inferior to men – if they are similar in talent, they are the same. In Japan, the differences between men and women are rooted in the social norms. So even though they put women in that posiiton, when she doesn’t experience those things, not so many changes can happen. That’s the area I can help. They put women in a higher position, but still, they do not have the experience yet.
The people who had been experiencing difficulties, like me, they rarely speak out. They gave up speaking out, or sometimes they feel like “I’m not the right person to say something” because we are not in that higher position. That’s something I felt 10 years ago or something. When I was very young, I thought about if I become the big guy in the company and I will change the life because I have the power there and I can something. I thought about that way, so when I was 40 years old, I felt like, I’m not such a big guy anymore, maybe I don’t have a right to speak out. Now, I realize that because I had difficulties then, I can say my experience what’s the issue or what’s the things I suggest to overcome that issue.
My mission is to speak out what I experienced. I cannot change my life too much, maybe, but I still want to change the life of the younger generation and also near future Japan. So, it may sound strange, but I really feel like I want to influence the future of Japan, especially the future of female workers.
Q: What lesson do you like to share, or, like, the important lesson that you’ve already learned from your experience, from your personal journey, that you think will be very important for young people?
A: I think one advice I will give is to have a mentor, to look for mentors. When I was very young, I was told that it’s very difficult to find female mentors in Japan because when I graduated from the school – which was 35 years ago – I couldn’t find any women who are working in the high level of the companies. You might be surprised that five years before I went out from the university, the women coulnd’t be hired by Japanese companies as a full-time workers. In Japan, there are sōgōshoku and ippanshoku. Sōgōshoku is full-time workers, general position and ippanshoku is clerical work. Ippanshoku means that they only do supportive work, they will not become the management. Sōgōshoku is the job for men at that time. So until five years before I graduated, that position were not open for women!
Then, there was a law, Koyōkikai Kintōhō that forces companies to have women as sōgōshoku. So when I went out from the school, maybe that was the fifth or sixth year of that law started, the door was open. In that situation, when I tried to find any mentor, I couldn’t find anyone who are even in manager position of Japanese companies. I couldn’t find any senior, the alumni or something, anyone working in the management. For example, I’m from Tokyo University, the very established university in Japan. Most women alumni become doctors, lawyers, civil servants for the government, or they started their own business. There are no places to get in for the large corporations.
Long story short, I was told that it’s very difficult for you to find mentors because there are no people who are heading to me in the corporate world. But there are some people, of course, so I try to find those people to listen. One thing I try not to do now is, I’m happy to share my experiences or difficulties, but I don’t want them to feel like, oh it’s very tough to work and raise children at the same time. That’s not something I wanted to push. It was like that, but now it’s changing and you can do it.
You need to be careful to find the person who is kind of positive. It doesn’t have to be women, but now, I have some men mentors as well. When I was young, it was difficult to find and also, I didn’t realize the importance of having mentors so much. But now, I really want to say that you have to find a mentor in any area. Of course, there are similar responsibilities or similar industries, but even though it’s not, if you find that person that you want to hear, you can find many people, on LinkedIn!
Having mentors is very important, especially if you’re a woman in the workplace, but also a positive one, not to feel like you have to be scared to balance all of this work and your life and also life at home. And also, it is important to find people who are working in the similar industry that you are going to pursue.
So, currently, what I’m doing for the recruiting, as I said, I’m trying to help the candidates. And also, for the company side, if I have a chance to do something so that the current people understand that women are important. What I’m trying to do next is I want to become the outside directors for the company, because I have been working for many companies. I have a lot of experience and also the ideas how to change that situation and make it happen, so not only saying out those ideas, but also to become the advisor.
From Challenges to Change: Building a Culture of Inclusion
The lessons Mika Magoshi imparts are not just relevant—they are transformative for anyone seeking to lead with empathy and inclusivity. Her call to action, from fostering mentorships to understanding the nuanced challenges faced by women and minorities, is a reminder that meaningful change begins with intentional leadership.
As businesses across Asia continue to embrace globalization and innovation, prioritizing DEI becomes not only a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage. By amplifying voices like Mika Magoshi’s, we can inspire leaders to champion diversity, rethink traditional norms, and build workplaces where everyone—regardless of gender, background, or circumstance—has the opportunity to thrive.
Highlights
Read this article in Chinese here.
