International Women's Day is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women around the world, and to commit to the work that lies ahead of us in forging an equitable and inclusive society.

This year's International Women's Day theme is "Embrace Equity" and, in order to build a gender-equitable society, we need to remove unconscious biases, prejudices and assumptions.

The Sony Group is a place where employees with diverse backgrounds work together under the Purpose to "fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology." "Diversity" is one of our Values, and it is also the key driver of new value creation. Different opinions and perspectives of each of our employees, as well as our diverse portfolio of businesses, are essential to evolving Sony and achieving sustainable growth.

We are working to create an organization that drives innovation while fully leveraging the experience of the employees at our company. For example, in the U.S., we conduct management training programs to eliminate unconscious biases and forums for the women in leadership positions to provide more occasions to build their communities and learn from each other. In Japan, in addition to the training programs, we are implementing systems and programs fostering mutual parent participation in childcare to actively support women to continue their career throughout different stages of life.

Furthermore, activities to support the active participation of women from a mid-to long-term perspective are not limited to internal company framework. We support "Girls Make Games" which offers opportunities for next generation of creators and engineers, "Diverse Directors Program" for providing access and exposure in the film & video industry, "Alpha Female+" to support women photographers around the world, and more. We also contribute to the development of women engineers through industry-academia collaboration.

I believe that each and every one of us respecting and acting to "Embrace Equity" will further lead us to an equitable and inclusive society. We would like to continue to harness diversity and contribute to creating a more inclusive world both inside and outside of Sony.