Mitsui O.S.K. Lines,  announced that on March 8, International Women’s Day , the company teamed up with JERA , held the “W Dialogue,” an interactive event to promote workstyles that enable everyone, including women, to play active roles. This event also encouraged participants to think about gender equality and diversity by sharing initiatives and role models related to the promotion of women’s activities at both companies. The event was open to employees of both MOL and JERA, as well as MOL Group employees. In all, about 190 participants joined the event in person and online.

The event began with leaders of the divisions that hosted the event introducing each company’s diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) and women’s activities. The next session featured female executives from both companies, who reflected on their own careers and talked about the importance of creating an organization that highlights individual diversity and allows people to work in their own way, regardless of gender. JERA Managing Executive Officer Minako Fujiie shared the following message: “I hope you will use the good points of various people as role models and formulate your own way of doing things, regardless of precedent or gender.” From MOL, Executive Officer Miwako Ando took the stage and encouraged the participants, saying “Do not determine your own potential in advance, but enjoy challenging yourself in various ways, and draw out the diversity within yourself.”

In the second half of the event, four employees working in managerial positions at both companies took the stage for a panel discussion on their diverse careers. The final program included a dialogue session among the audience participants, who split up into small groups to exchange opinions on the promotion of women’s activities.

For both companies, which aim to create organizations in which diverse personnel can take on central roles in the next generation, this was a valuable opportunity to interact across companies and industries and think about gender equality and diversity, as well as their own careers