Patriarchy? — I knew women were brilliant.
Change makers during this difficult situation
I personally liked this article “What Do Countries With The Best Coronavirus Responses Have In Common? Women Leaders” by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, and want to add the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike.
Of course politics always has complication, frictions and restrictions to make decisions, and not a small number of people in Tokyo say the reaction was prompt enough. But I’m just amazed with her stamina and I like how she tries to talk with the citizens in Tokyo in a polite, sympathetic but a logical way.
As everybody knows Japan has high levels of gender inequality although women in some of the most oppressed countries are far more struggling to get the equal rights as men.
Making a copy, picking up phone calls — seriously?
When I was working with startups, I didn’t feel the role between men and women were that different. But in traditional Japanese corporate society, it was very different.
The first job that I was given was making a copy of documents.
Next, picking phone calls for 30 members around me.
Then, shredding 1,000 pages of documents for my boss.
I did it for three months on top of all the tasks I had, and a new guy joined the team. He was younger than me, the speed he completed a task was ten times slower than me, but nobody told him to make a copy and pick phone calls. I knew my boss worked even slower than me, so I wrote down a plan.
Many Japanese conservative men, especially if they have enough titles to protect, are set to say NO to all the new idea and plan that nobody has ever tried. So they said NO to everything that I suggested.
My strategies
The project that I was working on under the conservative organization lacked marketing plan, and there was nobody who can do it.
I decided three strategies:
- I will do a job that nobody in this organization can take over
- I will use my time for the project until nobody can beat me
- I will show the results based on number until nobody asks me to do simple tasks
Since my boss only said NO to everything, I created a 5-page marketing plan during the weekend, and submitted it to him right before we were going to a meeting. He was trying to say NO but I gave him answers that would lead YES to everything in logical manner until he accepted, and that was the first day that I brought my original plan to the government.
My boss said NO for several times, but the Government said YES
My boss kept saying “the Government doesn’t like to do something new, so they will probably say NO” so I tried. Two guys at the government in charge of the project didn’t make any decisions right after I presented the plan, but they brought the plan to their supervisor right after the meeting.
The supervisor was a very smart lady that everybody was afraid, and she called my boss. My boss was frightened and picked up the call, and she said
“I’ve never seen anybody bringing a new plan to improve the project. One of the biggest marketing agencies involving this project didn’t bring any plan to us. Try it.”
All men around me said “NO” or didn’t say anything to avoid risks,
and she was the only one who said “YES”.
That was the first day that I grasped a chance. After that everything went smoothly. The government set KPI, and I achieved accordingly. The more I gained customers for myself and for the government, they decided to listen to my plan. As long as the supervisor and the government said YES to me, my boss couldn’t say NO.
All thanks to her, I built my position in the organization and project.
Now I’m here.
Being ignorant is the best way to stay living in privilege.
It’s so easy to say NO by not taking any risks, and people living in privilege tend to choose this option. I personally like to do something new because I get bored if I need to repeat some simple tasks forever, so I often ask something new to these conservative people. They are usually middle-aged men.
A “Young” “Lady” is equal to “less-knowledgeable” for them.
They still say “NO” to everything, but I’m cheeky enough so I ask “why not?”.
Lonely wolf
I remember the first boss that I met called me “lonely wolf” and I agree.
I cannot see many women actively leading a project and negotiating with all the conservative people trying to keep their privilege in the organization. It is easier for us to follow the men holding a power by saying YES to their opinions.
Looking back histories and watching TV, I don’t see female leaders following the other male members by trying butter them up.
When I watch the Governor of Tokyo, she’s the one fighting against people claiming that the way she used “lockdown” was exaggerating. She knew that she couldn’t announce lockdown under the law, but she intended to warn the citizens by keeping them stay inside. Now we know her strategy.
In my family, women are the ones leading the strategy.
I’ve never thought men are superior than women.
Physically, yes — I remember I couldn’t fight against him at all.
Since I was born, I saw my grandma was leading the family business and obviously she was the top though my dad was the CEO. My mom didn’t have a title, but I knew she was smarter than my dad so I asked tons of questions to my mom about my homework after my dad taught me some answers.
Japanese society is still built in a patriarchal way. Apparently, yes — and people with less privilege are always smarter and stronger.
I’m working in international community in Tokyo, and I appreciate that everyone doesn’t think the conservative way and gives me a new opportunity every time. One of the reasons that I am passionate about supporting international entrepreneurs is I can feel the frustration against the reactions that many people living in the conservative world have.
Please don’t make us voiceless.
