OUR MISSION

EXPANDING DIVERSITY IN NEWSROOMS

In Japan, company executives and politicians alike are under growing pressure to increase women’s representation. Even so, Japan remains a starkly unequal place for women, who are far less likely to be hired as full-time employees and on average earn nearly 44% less than men.

These dynamics play out in Japan’s media, where women account for just 20% of the staff at major broadcasters and newspapers. Almost none of them are among the managerial ranks of Japanese media.

The lack of women journalists and the dearth of women in senior roles have a profound impact on how stories are covered, and most crucially, whose voices are heard.

Journalists say features about social or political problems facing women and children are not taken seriously and rarely given the front page treatment. In the past, sexist comments by politicians have frequently been dismissed as minor gaffes and despite some efforts, the vast majority of experts and commentators interviewed on TV are men.

“WOMEN IN JOURNALISM JAPAN” is a professional network for all those who work in media who want increased diversity and inclusion in Japanese newsrooms. Our group has over 100 members from more than 20 media companies, including dozens of freelance journalists. The group, which is open to all members of the media regardless of their gender, also offers guidance and training sessions for women working in the industry.

Founders

吉田まゆ

Mayu Yoshida

Mayu is a bilingual broadcast correspondent and anchor with more than a decade of working in the journalism industry. She has covered major breaking news in Japan from the fields; 2011 Japan Earthquake, 2018 deadly rain in western Japan, 2019 Rugby World Cup, 2020 Tokyo Olympics as well as G7/G20 summits. She has also conducted exclusive interviews with many of the most influential people in Japan, among them is Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida who both later became prime ministers of Japan, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn and  former Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei. She was Tokyo chapter head for Asian American Journalists Association in 2015.

Before joining Reuters, Mayu was the business reporter/fill-in anchor for NHK World’s flagship program NewsLine. Before appearing on-air, she also gained off-camera experience as producer for NHK Word and also helped launch online English news contents for Nippon TV, Japan’s leading broadcasting network, where she worked as video editor and translator. Mayu started her journalism as staff text reporter for Kyodo News, one of  the largest news agencies in Asia.