First installment of the "Women, Leaders in the Workplace" forum series highlights services offered by the Gender Equality Promotion Center (26 January 2015)

Kyoto University's Gender Equality Promotion Center hosted the first installment of the forum series, "Women, Leaders in the Workplace", at Shiran Hall Annex on 26 January. The theme of the event was "Services Available from the Kyoto University Gender Equality Promotion Center: What the Users Have to Say".

With Assistant Professor Eiji Yamasue, head of the Gender Equality Promotion Center's Working Group on Public Relations, Networking, and Outreach Projects, serving as the master of ceremony, the forum commenced with remarks by Professor Kayo Inaba, the Center's Director and the University's Executive Vice-President for Gender Equality, International Affairs, and Public Relations. They were followed by a speech by KU President Juichi Yamagiwa on "'Women, Leaders in the Workplace' as a Pillar of the WINDOW Concept". An expression of President Yamagiwa's vision for Kyoto University, the WINDOW Concept consists of six themes -- "Wild and Wise", "International and Innovative", "Natural and Noble", " Diverse and Dynamic", "Original and Optimistic", and "Women, Leaders in the Workforce" -- which stem from his idea that the University's role is to provide its scholars and students with "windows" to society and the wider world. Following this talk, three KU women researchers -- Program-Specific Assistant Professor Tomoko Tateya of the Hakubi Center for Advanced Research and the Institute for Virus Research, Program-Specific Associate Professor Maki Koyama of the Unit for Livable Cities, Graduate Schools of Engineering and Medicine, and Program-Specific Associate Professor Yukiko Uchida of the Kokoro Research Center -- presented their experiences of benefitting from the services offered by the Center, including financial support for hiring lab assistants, day care for sick children and for infants on waiting lists for public nursery schools, and the child pick-up and care service.

After these presentations, a discussion was held on the gender-equal society of tomorrow, moderated by Professor Fumiko Oshikawa, head of the Center's Working Group on Support for Work-Life Balance. The participants -- President Yamagiwa, Executive Vice-President Inaba, the three speakers, and the Center's representatives, as well as audience members familiar with the Center's services -- actively offered their opinions on the needs of women researchers and other topics of relevance. The symposium concluded with remarks by Professor Kimio Ito from the Gender Equality Promotion Office.