April 1, 2016
Atsushi Seike
President, Keio University
To further promote women's active participation, it is essential to improve the employment environment for all workers, regardless of gender. To achieve this, Keio University has formulated the following action plan.
Plan Period
April 1, 2016 (Heisei 28) – March 31, 2021 (Heisei 33) (5 years)
Keio University's Challenges
On-campus systems for balancing work with childcare and nursing care are not widely recognized.
Long working hours and other factors can hinder the balance between work and private life.
In the faculty division, the percentage of women in managerial positions (*) is low. In the staff division, while the percentage of women in managerial positions is not low compared to other universities, it is insufficient when compared to the male-to-female ratio of current employees.
(*)Managerial positions: Refers to those involved in school management, including deans, graduate school chairs, principals/heads of integrated schools, and directors of various centers.
Goals, Initiatives, and Implementation Period
Goal 1
Foster an environment where information on work-life balance is easily accessible and opinions can be freely expressed.
<Initiatives>
From April 2016: Further utilize the Gender Equality Office website and actively publicize Keio University's initiatives on gender equality to create an environment where information is easily accessible.
From April 2016: The Gender Equality Office will continuously accept consultations and proposals regarding gender equality and work-life balance, and establish a system for prompt response.
From April 2016: Hold exchange meetings on work-life balance themes such as career paths, marriage, childcare, and nursing care at each campus and department.
From April 2017: Establish gender equality contact points at each campus.
Goal 2
Develop a working environment that facilitates work-life balance.
<Initiatives>
From April 2016: Create an environment where it is easy to disclose circumstances such as childcare or nursing care when adjusting schedules for various tasks.
From April 2016: Encourage all departments to promote parental leave for both men and women, fostering an environment where it is easy to take parental leave.
From April 2016: Review the format of meetings across the entire university, including frequency and duration, and consider measures to hold meetings before 5 p.m.
From April 2016: Promote participation in meetings via remote conferencing systems to reduce the burden of inter-campus travel.
From April 2016: Request departments to review their work practices to enable work-life balance.
From October 2016: Investigate faculty workload and working conditions to identify factors hindering work-life balance.
From April 2017: Expand the short-time work system and nursing care leave.
Goal 3
Increase the percentage of women in managerial positions. For faculty, the goal is to appoint a certain number of women to managerial positions in each department. For staff (excluding nursing staff), the goal is to achieve a 25% female representation in managerial positions.
<Initiatives>
From April 2016: Encourage each department to appoint at least one woman to a managerial position.
From April 2016: Increase the pool of candidates for managerial positions for both faculty and staff by ""developing a working environment that facilitates work-life balance"" as outlined in Goal (2).
Regarding the Review and Evaluation of Initiatives Based on the Action Plan
The Gender Equality Promotion Committee will be utilized to review and evaluate the achievement of numerical targets and the implementation status of initiatives based on the action plan.