Kimie Iwata

Career Born in Kagawa Prefecture to a father who taught high school and a mother who taught elementary school. She attended Kagawa Prefectural Takamatsu High School. In 1971 she both graduated from the Faculty of Liberal Arts at the University of Tokyo and then joined the Ministry of Labor. After serving as head of the Osaka Women's and Youth Affairs Division, she became head of the Welfare Division of the Workers' Welfare Department of the Labor Administration Bureau in 1991, head of the Women's Policy Division of the Women's Bureau in 1992, head of the International Labor Division of the Minister of Labor's Secretariat in 1994, head of the Secretariat of the Minister of Labor's Secretariat in 1995 , and deputy director-general for general affairs at the Minister of Labor's Secretariat in 1998. She became director -general of the Employment Equality, Children and Families Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2001.

In 2003, she retired from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and joined Shiseido. a director of Shiseido in April 2012, and a director of Japan Airlines and an advisor to Shiseido in July.

In July 2012, she became Chairman of the 21st Century Career Foundation. In September 2013, she became a member of the Consumer Affairs Commission of the Cabinet Office. In October 2015, he became an audit commissioner for Tokyo Metropolitan Government. In March 2016, she became a director of Kirin Holdings Company, Limited. In June 2019, she became a director of Resona Holdings and Ajinomoto.

Iwata has been a staunch supporter of women's equality. She is a member of the Cabinet Office's Council for Gender Equality, a member of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, a representative director of the Working Women's Empowerment Conference, and a vice president of the NPO United Nations Women Japan. One area related to this that she focused on was balancing a woman's work and child rearing roles and combatting the societal belief that men should be the breadwinner and women should do the housework and child-rearing. Iwata supports changing the Japanese law that requires a married couple to choose only one surname but does not want to force the use of two separate surnames.

Her husband is Kazumasa Iwata, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan.

Selected works