Japan Rugby Football Union Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Our Approach to Diversity & Inclusion

The sport of rugby welcomes individuals of every shape, size and physical ability. Throughout all of Japan’s national teams, there are players from different countries, cultures, and races, who all play together under the banner of ‘One Team’. Rugby maintains a strong tradition of welcoming and accepting people from all walks of life – at all levels of the game, both on and off the field. It’s within this spirit and ethos that the Japan Rugby Football Union strives in its commitment to positively contribute to society through the power of sport to ‘inspire and influence people’ and as such, we make the following declaration in regard to promoting the principles of Diversity and Inclusion as a key element of rugby’s core values: –

  • We promise to embrace all people who wish to be involved in rugby, regardless of their race, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, culture, physical and mental functioning, or lifestyle.
  • We will do our utmost to continue to promote rugby’s core values of Integrity, Passion, Solidarity, Discipline and Respect, which are introduced in the World Rugby Playing Charter, to promote a harmonious society where everyone can live comfortably, with a variety of ideas and values.

Importance of Promoting Diversity & Inclusion

We promote D&I initiatives to directly contribute to a society where people can enjoy a healthy and enriched life, both physically and mentally, through sport. We believe that rugby has a meaningful and important voice in:

  • Promoting a greater understanding and awareness of people with different backgrounds, for the realization of an open and inclusive society
  • Increasing various support and partnership opportunities to expand the participation of players, fans, coaches, referees, support staff and administrators, and create more opportunities for people to experience rugby

Our Policy on Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives in 2021

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games pursued “diversity and harmony” as one of its key concepts, which had a significant impact on Japan as an opportunity to encourage a more diverse and harmonious society. We believe that D&I initiatives need to be further strengthened across rugby to ensure that the rising tide of understanding and awareness created this summer is not lost, and that this legacy is passed onto future generations.

We have been sharing the values of rugby through the Playing Charter and will continue to do so. In March 2021, the JRFU launched its ‘JAPAN RUGBY Mid-term Strategic Plan 2021-2024’. In the strategic plan, the JRFU has set goals of ‘creating a culture of participation in which everyone who wants to play rugby can easily access the sport, at any level’ and to ‘contribute to society through rugby’s unique values.’ The JRFU also set out a specific plan of ‘communication to spread the Playing Charter and the values of the game’. A number of D&I initiatives have already been launched, aimed at achieving such objectives. We will keep implementing our D&I action plan as a key part of our Mid-term Strategic Plan, thereby contributing to the realisation of a harmonious society in which everyone can live comfortably.

Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives and Challenges

Our Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives

The JRFU has been committed to ensuring that rugby continues to be an open, non-discriminatory, and attractive sport for all players, coaches, referees, administrators, fans, and all other stakeholders. In addition to promoting the game as a lifelong sport through the introduction of tag rugby and other non-contact variations of the game, we also collaborate with other federations and bodies to provide opportunities to introduce rugby to people with disabilities, with the aim of making the game easily accessible to all, regardless of age or physical and mental functioning. The JRFU also actively promotes women’s participation by offering an environment where women can easily participate in the game, including the development of a training system for female coaches and match officials. We have also been prohibiting discrimination in accordance with our union’s Code of Conduct and regulations for people involved in rugby and offering educational opportunities on diversity through international exchange and the distribution of educational resources.

Also, as the governing body of the game in Japan, we have been improving our structures in an effort to embrace diversity, including the establishment of an Integrity Hotline in 2018, where external lawyers can provide consultation on any act of violence, or other acts against the integrity of rugby. In addition, we are continuously working to eliminate discriminatory acts and behaviours by providing integrity education. In 2021, we achieved the target of more than 40% female board members, as required by the Governance Code for National Sport Federation Members, and we encourage active debates with a broad range of opinions.

Our Current Challenges in Diversity & Inclusion

Although the JRFU is proactively promoting and encouraging D&I initiatives, there are still many challenges to overcome. In terms of gender equality, the percentage of female employees at JRFU is still only 27% and there are no women among the seven executive positions, and only one woman among 15 management positions. We recognise that the recruitment, development, and promotion of human resources as a structural management issue that needs to be addressed. In addition, other areas, such as the employment of people with disabilities, needs to be addressed to create a working environment in which people with different backgrounds can play an active and valuable part. We recognise the importance of examining such issues from various perspectives, and then implementing measures to tackle them one by one.

In terms of the playing environment in rugby, the number of female players has been increasing significantly. In 2011 we had 2,446 female players in Japan. By 2020, this more than doubled to 5,130. However, female participation represents less than 6% of Japan’s total player population of 91,892, so further efforts and measures need to be taken in the future. Particularly, as rugby is a contact sport, there are challenges to overcome to create an environment where men, women, boys, and girls can enjoy rugby together. We believe that further discussion is required on creating a playing environment that prioritises player welfare.

The JRFU’s Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion in 2021

The JRFU believes that it is necessary for us to actively embrace diversity in order to realise the objectives of our D&I Statement. To achieve our objectives, the JRFU commits to the following targets by the end of our 2024 fiscal year (end of March 2025). We will report the progress on our website and in our annual report accordingly.

Our Commitment to Women’s Empowerment

The JRFU believes that a diverse workplace will lead to new ideas and perspectives, which will help the organisation to be more active and promote innovation. We believe that promoting women’s empowerment in the workplace is fundamental to promoting D&I in rugby and must be achieved if we aim to be the ‘world’s best union’. From this perspective, the JRFU has set the following targets and will promote various initiatives to achieve them.

  1. More than 40% of female board members (40% as of September 2021)
  2. More than 1 woman in executive positions (0 as of September 2021)
  3. More than 15% female heads of divisions (6% as of September 2021)
  4. More than 35% of female staff (27% as of September 2021)

Our Commitment to Realise a Diverse and Harmonious Society

To achieve our mission of ‘making rugby a sport which everyone can enjoy anywhere, anytime’ and ‘making participation in rugby easily accessible for everyone’, we need to develop an environment in which anyone can become involved in the game. The JRFU is committed to the following points to achieve its mission.

  • Promoting the involvement of people with disabilities in the JRFU’s business (employment of people with disabilities/board members)
  • Creating an environment where everyone, including people with disabilities, the elderly, women, and children can enjoy watching the game
  • Promoting collaboration agreements with various para-sports organisations and bodies
  • Promoting the internationalisation of the JRFU management team including its board members and executive managements
  • Promoting the understanding and acceptance of LGBTQ in the rugby world

We will conduct comprehensive research on these commitments and set specific KPIs. Please click here for further information on other action plans.

Please click here for further information on other action plans.

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