Nissan Motor Co. goals to spice up the share of girls in administration by 2023 to a stage that stands out inside Japan’s male-dominated auto trade, although its chief sustainability officer mentioned there’s nonetheless much more room for enchancment.

The Japanese carmaker mentioned Friday it’s looking for to extend its ratio of girls managers in Japan to 13 p.c by 2023, up from roughly 10 p.c this 12 months. Globally, the Yokohama-based firm is concentrating on 16 p.c ladies managers by the identical 12 months.

These numbers could seem small, however they’re on the bold finish of the dimensions in Japan. Regardless of the Japanese authorities’s push to extend the variety of feminine staff and ladies in administration to 30 p.c by 2020, as of final 12 months, fewer than 8 p.c of managerial positions had been held by ladies.

The hole is even starker on the subject of Japan’s conservative and largely male-dominated automotive trade. Amongst Japanese producers with 1,000 or extra staff, round 4.7 p.c of managers are ladies, in keeping with the nation’s labor ministry. As of 2018, ladies made up lower than 2 p.c of managers at Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.

Nissan, which credit its alliance with France’s Renault SA with serving to bolster its variety, began to advertise gender equality in 2004, a few decade earlier than rivals. Immediately, Nissan’s Government Vice President Asako Hoshino stands out as essentially the most senior-ranked girl amongst internally-promoted executives in Japan’s automotive trade.

Nonetheless, Nissan’s Chief Sustainability Officer Joji Tagawa mentioned he’s not happy: “Whether or not the goal for 2023 is daring and robust sufficient? Not but,” he mentioned at a briefing Friday.

Certainly, Nissan’s targets are low in contrast with worldwide requirements. Globally, the share of girls in prime administration positions rose to a excessive of 29 p.c in 2020, in keeping with Catalyst, a nonprofit that tracks ladies in enterprise. Solely two of Nissan’s 12 board members are ladies.

“We’re aiming to remove inequality and discrimination. We now have huge room for enchancment,” Tagawa mentioned.

Nissan has quite a lot of methods supporting ladies staff, together with childcare facilities at its headquarters and varied different areas in Japan, in addition to insurance policies that accommodate actions reminiscent of child-pickup, in keeping with a Nissan spokeswoman.

“It’s not nearly hitting targets,” Tagawa mentioned. Regardless of representing a small portion of auto executives globally, current analysis exhibits ladies affect greater than 85 p.c of all auto purchases in markets such because the U.S.

“Moms, wives and daughters inform car-purchasing choices,” Tagawa mentioned. Growing managerial variety “will enhance Nissan’s model worth,” he mentioned.