Honda Supports The Collegiate Women Sports Awards

According to a February 2014 article by The New York Times and Associated Press, Honda Motors has appointed a woman to its board for the first time and given a major promotion to a foreigner, in a sign that the automaker wants to change perceptions of a hidebound corporate culture.

Hideko Kunii, 66, a technology expert, will join the board, and Issao Mizoguchi, a Brazilian of Japanese ancestry, who has worked with Honda’s South American operations for nearly 30 years, has been appointed an operating officer.

Ms. Kunii studied at San Jose University and the University of Texas at Austin, and previously worked for the Japanese electronics maker Ricoh. She is now in charge of promoting gender equality at the university in Tokyo. Mr. Mizoguchi now serves as senior vice president and director of Honda South America.

The Honda car manufacturer has a reputation for being progressive and pro-active in their approach to marketing to and being inclusive of the female population. As the saying goes, money talks and in terms of funding female oriented interests, Honda speaks loud and clear.

The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Award are automatically in the running for the Honda-Broderick Cup award, as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Three other athletes are honored as the Division II Athlete of the Year, Division III Athlete of the Year, and Inspiration Award winner.

The Collegiate Women Sports Awards recognize not only superior athletic skills, but also leadership, academic excellence, and eagerness to participate in community service. Since that first award was given to Lucy Harris, a basketball player from Delta State University, the Collegiate Women Sports Awards has emerged as the premier women’s collegiate awards program in the nation, honoring 12 Division I NCAA woman athletes each year with the Honda Sports Awards, presenting the Division II and Division III Woman Athlete of the Year, Honda Inspiration Award Winner, and eventually presenting the top prize, the Honda Cup, to the collegiate woman athlete of the year.

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The Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) presented the 2014 Honda Cup in a LIVE awards ceremony televised on CBS Sports Network from the USC Galen Center Founders Room in Los Angeles, California on Monday, June 30, 2014. The 12 Honda Sports Award finalists from around the nation were joined by the NCAA Div. II and Div. III Collegiate Women Athletes of the Year, and the 2014 Honda Inspiration Award winner for the hour-long live telecast on ESPNU.

Today the program includes the following awards:

• The Honda Cup (signifying the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year)

• 12 sports awards for the best female athlete in each of the 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports

• Division II Female Athlete of the Year

• Division III Female Athlete of the Year

• Honda Inspiration Award

• Irv Grossman Award of Merit

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Defining a leader is not just a word we use regularly to characterize captains, or coaches, or MVPs or All-Stars. Leaders are what sports create – strong, confident, competent girls and women who succeed on the field, in the classroom and in the boardroom.

The motivation and spirit that propels this conviction can be found at the company’s website Honda.com.

“We’ve always known that our success isn’t measured solely by the vehicles we make, but also by the lives we enhance. Our responsibilities to our associates, our business partners, our communities and our planet have guided us for nearly four decades, and they’ve helped us on our path to be a company society wants to exist.

“Our company philosophy concerning diversity in the workplace states: Equality among colleagues is expressed in recognizing, respecting and valuing individual differences in each other, treating each other fairly and creating equal opportunity for everyone.

“Honda recognizes that diversity and inclusion are critical to our business operations. Diversity in our workforce and supply base helps foster the kind of innovation, sensitivity and vitality that enables us to dream big dreams and create products and technologies that make people’s lives better. We embrace diversity across all levels of our business, and among our associates, suppliers, dealers and communities in which we do business.”

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Source: Csr.honda.com, Prnewswire.com, Wikipedia, Honda.com, Today.com, Autoweek.com, New York Times and Associated Press, Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons.