Prof. Kyoko ISHIDA (Faculty of Law), Director of the Office for Promotion of Equality and Diversity, holding the certificate at the venue of the award ceremony
On November 10, 2022, Waseda University was awarded the Gold Recognition in the PRIDE Index 2022, a recognition based on an evaluation of initiatives that support LGBTQ+ in the workplace, formulated by the voluntary organization “work with Pride.”
Since its founding, the University has opened its doors to a wide variety of people. Through Waseda Vision 150, an institutional initiative to mark the University’s 150th anniversary in 2032, we aim to rapidly improve the quality of education and research and continue to be a university that contributes to the world.
Especially in recent years, we have tackled a number of issues with the aim of further development through promoting diversity in education, research, and employment. As part of these efforts, we have applied for the “PRIDE Index” annually since 2020, and through reviewing our yearly progress with the indicators listed in the index, we have deepened our awareness on how to create a comfortable and safe workplace for the LGBTQ+ community.
We were awarded with the Silver Recognition back-to-back in 2020 and 2021, and it became clear that to obtain the top-level Gold Recognition, an area in need of improvement was establishing personnel systems and policies that take into consideration and recognize the same-sex partners of faculty and staff.
In an effort to improve this area for the 2021 academic year, the University’s Personnel Section and Salaries and Welfare Section worked to reform several personnel policies to make them applicable to the partners* of faculty and staff. These include policies to do with work-life balance, childcare, and nursing support. With the implementation of these newly updated policies from April 2022, we were able to obtain the Gold Recognition.
*Definition of partner: A partner is recognized by the University as a person who is in a similar circumstance to that of a marriage with a faculty or staff regardless of their gender. Any personnel division policies that concern the spouse of faculty or staff will be applicable to a partner.
We will continue to respect and promote diversity in order to build a fair work environment in which diverse people can work together, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
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- Number of awarded companies
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- Result announcement at the venue (name of Waseda University can be found at the bottom right）
About the PRIDE Index：
The Pride Index is an evaluation index which measures efforts to support LGBTQ+ in the workplace. It was first formulated in 2016 by “work with Pride” in Japan.
Its five indicators are:
Policy (action plan);
Representation (building a supportive community);
Inspiration (awareness-raising activities);
Development (personnel system/program); and
Engagement/Empowerment (contribution to society/public relations activities).
If the prescribed criteria are met, 1 point is awarded for each indicator. 5 points are awarded gold recognition, 4 points are awarded silver recognition, and 3 points are awarded bronze recognition.
