Yanmar’s International Women’s Day – A Month to Express Appreciation and think about Diversity

March 8 is International Women’s Day. It was established by the United Nations in 1975 as a day to recognize the achievements of women regardless of nationality, nation, language, culture, or economic and political barriers.

It is also linked to Goal number 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted by the United Nations in 2015: Achieve gender equality.

Yanmar has adopted Diversity for YANMAR as its guiding principle and is working to promote diversity as part of its globalization strategy to create world-class professional human resources regardless of nationality, gender, or age. By accepting and respecting differences in gender, nationality, lifestyle, culture, and other factors, and by making the best use of each individual’s abilities, Yanmar aims to enhance our corporate value and become a company where all employees can be proud and fulfilled in their work.

As part of its efforts to promote diversity, from February 8 to March 8, a month of activities in support of International Women’s Day were held at Yanmar locations all around the world to consider gender equality, and Diversity & Inclusion.

Ms. Mayu Nakanishi of the Diversity Promotion Group, Human Resources Division of Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd. was in charge of planning the International Women’s Day event. She shared her thoughts about the background of the event, the thoughts of team members, feedback from employees and the prospects for D&I promotion in Yanmar group.

Mayu Nakanishi, who was in charge of planning and executing this event.

Why did Yanmar hold an in-house event for International Women’s Day?

Nakanishi described three main objectives of the month of International Women’s Day activities.

The first is to encourage employees to think about SDGs and gender equality, and to foster a corporate culture that respects diversity.

The second is to show respect and appreciation for employees who make daily efforts to empower women. The target was not limited to female employees but included everyone who makes an effort to create a better work environment.

The third objective is to foster a sense of unity among employees. Further to this objective was the goal of promoting mutual understanding and building relationships by working together on projects related to the event and expressing daily appreciation.

“In order to foster an internal culture in which all employees can work comfortably, I first needed to raise awareness,” said Nakanishi. “I decided to hold the event for a month rather than for a single day because I felt that a certain period was necessary for this to happen.”

Key visual for International Women’s Day

The key visual for the event was created using the mimosa flower as a motif, the symbol of International Women’s Day.

The theme for the 2023 International Women’s Day by United Nation is, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. Yanmar’s Key Visual incorporated this theme and expressed it in a triangle design that invokes the idea of a flourishing potential of people and the future in Yanmar’s spirit of HANASAKA through the appearance of a large blooming flower. The design was created to give a soft impression while incorporating straight lines.

Conducting hybrid events

A website was specially built to celebrate Yanmar’s month of International Women’s Day activities.

The website features an interview with three Yanmar executives discussing “The Present and Future of Diversity Promotion,” and a video of a dialogue between Nakanishi and Norimichi Hamaguchi, Chief Human Resource Officer Director Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd., Member of the Board, discussing their thoughts on International Women’s Day.