Lecture on promoting men to take childcare leave

We recently held an in-house lecture featuring Mr. Tetsuya Ando, Representative Director of the NPO Fathering Japan.
We had a short conversation before the lecture and hit it off with the idea of "fathering = enjoying being a father" and increasing the number of "smiling fathers.
We asked him to give a lecture to our major career path employees in the hope that he would make it easier for them to take childcare leave and childcare leave when their child is born, and to help create a workplace that allows flexible work styles.
What struck me most about Mr. Ando's words was that he hoped that the term "paternity leave" itself would cease to be a special term and that society would come to take it for granted that childcare leave would refer to both fathers and mothers.
In my experience, there are many lessons to be learned in parenting, and I feel that not only the children, but also the parents have been allowed to grow.

That precious time is only a few moments in a long life.
During that irreplaceable time, there were many trials and errors and things to reflect on, but the happy moments are the ones that remain more in my mind.
I am a little envious of those who are able to raise their children in this day and age, as the maternity leave system was not as extensive when I was raising my children.
When you know somebody who is taking or thinking of taking maternity leave, I hope you will warmly encourage them to do so.
I believe that the basis of business management is to make the workplace a place where employees can work with vitality.
In the discussion that followed this lecture, a variety of opinions were actively exchanged.
As stated in the "Sumitomo Riko Group Vision for 2029 (2029V)," we will continue to positively consider any improvement ideas that will be useful to our employees in "Developing people and peers who pioneer the future.”