The first meeting of the Women's Leadership Network was held online for members of the "MBA Women's Group" and was attended by 28 people.
This year's theme was "How to provide education for those on maternity leave to prepare for their return to work." The subject of this discussion was a seminar which was actually held at the NUCB Business School that required employees on maternity leave to acquire a "manager's point of view" (the seminar itself is the subject of the case study). The participants enthusiastically discussed the seminar, sharing their own experiences, those of their colleagues who had returned to work after maternity leave, and the current situation at their companies.
There were a number of affirmative comments on the educational value of seeking a managerial perspective from those returning from childcare leave, but there were also criticism from those who were skeptical of the proposition. Dr. Takeuchi, who was in charge of this session, brought up the term "violence in education" at the end of the discussion. "As women with MBA degrees, I want you to be sensitive to topics like that which we discussed today." At the end of the session, the participants presented Dr. Takeuchi with a bouquet of flowers as he had just celebrated his birthday. After the heated discussion, there was a fun virtual get-together.
The MBA Women's Association was established in 2017 as an alumni organization of the Business School, and has held five seminars and other events on the theme of "MBA Career Development for Women. From FY2020, we hope to develop this group into a business school's "Women's Leadership Network" and make it an even more exciting place for MBA holders and current female students to interact and continue to learn in order to expand each other's career opportunities.