Gender Issues in Labor Unions: Gap in Awareness Among Male Officers

j.union Corporation (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, hereinafter 'the Company') has published 'K2P2 White Paper 2025,' which summarizes the achievements of the industry-academia collaboration project 'K2P2 (Kumijo Kumidan Partnership Project®)*' promoted jointly with Professor Issei Honda of Mukogawa Women's University.

This white paper reveals through a survey that unconscious bias among male officers (hereinafter referred to as Kumidan) in labor unions is affecting gender issues. Furthermore, dialogues among Kumidan suggested the existence of an invisible conflict structure among male officers arising from differences in generation and values.

* 'Kumijo Kumidan Partnership Project®' is a registered trademark of Professor Issei Honda of Mukogawa Women's University and j.union Corporation (Trademark Registration No. 6787599).

### 'K2P2 White Paper 2025'
- Pages: 28 pages
- Publication Date: March 31, 2026
- Publishers: Issei Honda, Mukogawa Women's University; Jun Asano, j.union Corporation
- Issued by: j.union Corporation

Read the full K2P2 White Paper 2025

## ■ Background of the Initiative

In recent years, as society as a whole demands the promotion of gender equality, various initiatives are being advanced in labor unions, including promoting the participation of female officers (hereinafter referred to as Kumijo) and improving their environment.

Meanwhile, even with these efforts, gender issues within organizations are not fully resolved. Behind this situation, there may be structural factors that cannot be fully captured by systems and mechanisms alone.

To clarify the reality of these issues, this project conducted a survey and dialogue session targeting Kumidan.

## ■ Main Topics of 'K2P2 White Paper 2025' (Excerpts)

* When citing data from this release, please credit 'K2P2 White Paper 2025 / j.union Corporation.'

- **Unconscious bias affects awareness of challenges in increasing female officers**
It was suggested that Kumidan's unconscious bias may be influencing the awareness of challenges in increasing female officers. When grouped by the level of unconscious bias (hereinafter 'unconscious bias level'), the group with a high unconscious bias level had a high awareness of challenges in increasing female officers (74%), while the group with a low level had 36%, showing a maximum difference of about twofold.

- **Gap in perception of gender issues**
It became clear that there is a gap in how Kumijo and Kumidan perceive issues, such as differences in their recognition of harassment experienced by Kumijo and feelings of unfairness within the organization.

- **'Invisible conflict structure' among officers**
Through dialogues among Kumidan, it was suggested that a conflict structure exists not only between genders but also among Kumidan themselves, stemming from differences in generation and values. Such conflicts are often not overt and may hinder the creation of new initiatives.

## ■ Towards the Future

We hope that this white paper will serve as an opportunity to re-evaluate gender issues in labor unions, not as 'problems of specific attributes,' but as 'structural issues of the entire organization.'

Specific recommendations based on this white paper are planned for separate announcement.

## ■ What is 'K2P2 (Kumijo Kumidan Partnership Project®)'?

K2P2 is an industry-academia collaboration project aiming to build organizations where female officers (Kumijo) and male officers (Kumidan) in labor unions cooperate, transcending differences in their positions and values.

Through joint research with Professor Issei Honda of Mukogawa Women's University, the project aims to review the management of labor unions from a gender equality perspective and realize next-generation union activities.

**For those interested in K2P2 Consultation**
If you are considering specific consultations or implementation, please feel free to contact us via the form below.
https://www.j-union.net/contact/consultation/

## ◼️ Company Profile

Company Name: j.union Corporation
URL: https://www.j-union.co.jp
Head Office: Shinjuku Island Tower 22F, 6-5-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Representative Director and President: Masanobu Yoshikawa
Established: March 6, 1989 (Heisei 1)
Capital: 45 million yen
Business Description: Activity support specializing in labor unions

## 【 Inquiries regarding this release 】

j.union Corporation K2P2 Secretariat

Mail: K2P2＠j-union.com
Contact Persons: Jun Asano, Mariko Fujiei, Hitomi Kato