Hitachi Vantara takes up various initiatives to increase women representation

Claire Thomas, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Hitachi Vantara

 

“The relative representation of women in technical roles declined between 2018 and 2022, according to LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company data. As per the survey of 40,000 employees and 333 organizations employing more than 12 million people, women are grossly underrepresented in technical and engineering roles, and they constitute less than a third of the workforce at entry-level. With technology having such a wide-reaching impact in our everyday lives, we need to make sure the people designing, building and testing this technology represent society as a whole, so gender representation is critical.

At Hitachi Vantara, we firmly believe in the power of technology to contribute to society and protect our planet for future generations. We must incorporate the thoughts, views, and needs of half of our world’s population- women - to accomplish these goals.

In the past year, we have made significant progress through investments in family-friendly policies, new healthcare benefits, flexible working, communities that provide safe spaces, new leave policies, education, and mental health support to bring diverse talent into Hitachi Vantara. We have promoted female talent from within and brought in new female talent at leadership levels, including 3 new female global leaders in the past year - Leadership - Corporate Executive Team, Hitachi Vantara and there is still a long way to go. As a part of our constant efforts to promote gender diversity and increase the representation of women to 30 percent by 2025, we are:

•  Launching a pilot leadership program through a transformational TED-style speaking course called Amplify with Ginger Leadership Communications, culminating in a range of ‘Ideas Worth Amplifying.’

•  Running workshops and e-learning programs with Catalyst on Men Advocating for Real Change to inspire and equip men to leverage their unique opportunity to be advocates for change and raise awareness of bias and how to tackle it.

•  Co-creating an allyship program with Token Man Consulting and Potentia Talent Consulting, led by our Women of Hitachi employee resource group (ERG), with input from our Rainbow Connection (LGBTQIA+) ERG to include an intersectional lens on gender.

• Providing career development opportunities to our ERG leaders/members through a mix of internal discussion and externally facilitated training.

•      nvesting in programming for girls studying STEM through our partnership with Visit.org.

We need more women to make an intentional choice about a career in technology, through technical and non-technical paths, rather than leaving it to chance. We need more gender diversity to design better solutions to the world’s largest challenges.  We must create economic independence for more women, close the gender pay gap, and break harmful stereotypes for people of all genders.  We must ensure that everyone has the digital skills and technology access needed to provide for their families. We must demonstrate true allyship in everything we do and support others with our knowledge and experience wherever we can.”