Mercari hosted our International Women’s Day Event 2025 on March 7, one day prior to International Women’s Day.

The event was held in collaboration between our Inclusion & Diversity Team (I&D Team), which promotes the creation of a fair and inclusive environment, and Women@, an internal community of volunteers whose main mission is to create an environment where women can thrive. In this Mercan article, I will share the highlights from the event.

What is International Women’s Day? 

International Women’s Day is a day honoring the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and is celebrated annually on March 8. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158—a staggering 134 years from now—to reach full gender parity. That’s why the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is “Accelerate Action.” For our International Women’s Day Event 2025, we planned a program that would encourage participants to consider what each of us can do right now to accelerate action toward achieving gender equality and “create the future we want to see, starting here and now.” Below is a recap of the event.

When in doubt, hit the ground running and step into the shoes as you go

Our main guest of the night was Shiho Konno, representative and lawyer at Shiho Konno Habataki Law Office, who also actively works to support education in law and business management strategies. She is a member of the Committee on Realization of a Gender-Equal Society at the Japan Federation of Bar Associations and a model example of an outstanding woman leader who is making multifaceted strides toward gender equality. She also serves as an outside director for numerous companies and has been an outside director for Mercari since 2024.

Shiho took the stage to deliver the first session of the event, titled “Overcoming Setbacks and Mistakes to Find Our Way Up,” in which she covered topics such as:

• A summary of her own career path
• The three keys to improving your luck
• The five setbacks everyone should experience in life
• The setbacks she experienced herself
• A message to women managers (advice on personal career development and training team members)

In her talk, Shiho recounted her numerous struggles, failures, and lessons, conveying episodes that seemed inconceivable based on her impressive career history, and openly shared her advice with the audience. Everyone was captivated by her valuable words and all the surprises and discoveries laden throughout the session and listened intently from start to finish.

The words that left the deepest impression on me personally were “step into the shoes as you go.” In my own experience, I had once received an offer to transition from a player to a manager and to be promoted to a higher grade, but it was only because the company was intentionally trying to advance the careers of women. At the time, I felt that accepting the promotion without having the necessary skills and just because I was a woman would not be beneficial for myself or the organization. But after much deliberation, I ultimately decided to “step into the shoes,” and thanks to that decision, I now have a vantage point I never would have had without accepting the offer back then. At the same time, I do sometimes still struggle with the thought of whether it was truly the right decision to take on the title before my skills had caught up. When Shiho said, “It’s okay to step into the shoes. In fact, you should step into them,” I felt greatly reassured and encouraged.

With recent trends, I believe there are many people who are experiencing and will experience the same thing as me, and I’m certain that these words will encourage them too.

Shiho’s speech included many relatable experiences that everyone has had or will have at some point, and the words of wisdom she shared throughout her speech resonated with significance for each member in the audience.

What is the solution to the “eternal challenge?”

Following Shiho’s speech, our VP of Engineering (Marketplace) Carlos Donderis (@CaDs) joined her on stage for a talk session on the topic of “mutual support in career development.”

Shiho prefaced the discussion with the “eternal challenge” of balancing work and life, career development and raising children, and went on to share her experience through which she has found it important to rely on others, spend money on solutions where possible, and express gratitude to those who helped her. @CaDs spoke about his personal experience as well, sharing his vow to never let his daughter experience a childhood without her father, and episodes in which he was unable to dedicate himself to taking care of his wife and daughter due to work, no matter how strongly he wanted to. He also recounted times in which he felt frustrated at being unable to unleash his full potential at work due to parental responsibilities while watching others advance in their careers and achieve great results. He explained how he constantly reminds himself of his personal value of placing equal importance on work and family, and makes a conscious effort to communicate with and care for his family, such as by participating in offsite events from home when possible.

Shiho commented, “You’ve built a good relationship with your daughter,” to which @CaDs replied, “She’s starting to show reluctance toward her father recently, and sometimes it breaks my heart. I’m worried that when she gets a bit older she might enter a phase in which she dislikes her father,” his troubled expression inviting laughter from the audience.

To wrap up the session, @CaDs asked Shiho about maternity harassment*, to which Shiho responded, “Ideally, companies should have a consultation hotline that employees can contact in the case of such incidents.” @CaDs said in response, “If anyone at Mercari has such concerns, I will be here to help,” concluding the discussion on a strong and reassuring note.

*Form of workplace harassment where women workers are treated unfairly, harassed, or subjected to unpleasant behavior due to their pregnancy, childbirth, or childcare.

Women who have pursued their dreams without using their upbringing or environment as an excuse

The final session of the night was titled “Introducing Great International Women Leaders.” Mercari members from various countries took the stage to introduce an emblematic woman leader from their country and her story.

The speakers introduced the following leaders from their respective countries:

*Speakers’ names and teams are listed in parenthesis.

• He Xiangning (Suwen, XB Product)
• Savitribai Phule (Sneha, B2C/Ads Engineering)
• Cecilia Grierson (Juan, OTD)
• Katherine Johnson (Katie, Platform DX)
• Chanmina (Kayoreena, Mercari India Engineering Office)
• Simon Veil (Clement, Talent Acquisition)

All of these women came from backgrounds that were far from privileged. Whether they were born into low castes, survived the Holocaust, or faced discrimination and prejudice due to their appearance or race, none of them used their circumstances as an excuse. They pursued their visions and went on to make remarkable achievements as pioneers of the women’s movement, becoming the first woman teacher, the first woman to earn a medical degree, and so on. Their stories were not only inspiring but provided us with many insights for our own lives and futures.

After the event

This event was put together collaboratively by the I&D Team and the Women@ community. Held for the first time at our Tokyo office and attended by members from our India office, this International Women’s Day event was a truly special occasion. Although there were many firsts and uncertainties to navigate, the event was ultimately a great success, with a total of around 150 participants joining from both online and offline.

The most remarkable and admirable careers are built upon countless failures and setbacks. Even if life hands you the toughest upbringing, persistent pursuit of your goals can lead to achievements that will be remembered and told by generations to come. So if you have a vision for a future world you would like to see, #AccelerateAction and create that future starting right here, right now. This message and a sense of hope for the future were what all of the participants took away from this event.

Prior to the event, we also called for members to take photos in this year’s pose in support of International Women’s Day, and we received vastly more photos than anticipated.

This proactive action by Mercari members really embodies this year’s theme of accelerating action toward achieving gender equality.

Moving forward, the I&D Team, which promotes the creation of a fair and inclusive environment, and the Women@ community, whose mission it is to create an environment where women can thrive, will continue to support working mothers at Mercari, provide career consulting for women, and hold events related to women’s health. We will also keep working to create an environment where all employees can feel motivated and healthy in their work every day.

Please look forward to our next event!