I saw a TV program featuring women’s career advancement.
It said that generally, the timing for international assignments and promotions at work coincide with women’s life events like marriage and child birth, which creates difficulty. It was recommended to give an opportunity a chance if you are provided one. One may also choose to re-start the career and get involved in management from the 40’s and 50’s after the children have grown.
Myself, I have been more focused on my career. After graduating from law school, I joined the US entity of a Dutch global company. In my second year, I was assigned to go to the headquarters in Holland where I spent 2 1/2 years, then I returned to the US as a manager of a team. I returned to Japan where I served as the legal counsel for a Japanese securities company, then became the Director of Legal Department of the Japanese entity of another Dutch global company. Finally I came to my current position as the General Counsel of the Japanese entity of a French global company. I have the responsibility to advise the company and management, and to develop my team members.
My sister, on the other hand, continued to work part-time for a while after the birth of her first child, but after the birth of her second child she decided to leave her career as a tax adviser. Now she is a full-time mom, which is a job that requires much physical and mental strength, dealing with continuous unplanned situations while processing multiple tasks day-in and day-out. I can only admire how she manages everything. Now that her third child has been born, there will be even more challenges. To raise a person must have such weight and responsibility but also very fulfilling.
In the TV program, it was mentioned that one of the merits of becoming a manager is that you can witness the development of your subordinates, and gain a different kind of growth and career experience. I could fully agree with this. When I started to work as as junior person, I was focused on increasing my knowledge and enhancing my skills in order to create results and establish my position and value. After I have gained some experience and became a manager with subordinates, I started to think about how to pass on my experience and knowledge to the next generation, and to support development of women and young people into leaders who can fully compete in the world.
My next goal is to become involved in the business management. To have responsibility for the business, be in a position to think about the social existence of an organization and have direct impact on the strategies and decision-making of a company.