Why are female stationmasters still so rare?

Kentaro Sugino / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

On June 23, a woman's name and picture was added to the line of photos of past stationmasters displayed at JR Yotsuya Station in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Hiroko Shirayama had become the station's first female stationmaster since it opened in 1894, following 40 men.

It is no longer unusual to see women driving or conducting trains, but female stationmasters are still a rare sight.

Also in June, JR Mejiro Station in Toshima Ward received a female stationmaster, Kayoko Shimizu. With the addition of Shirayama and Shimizu, there are only four female stationmasters at Japan Railway companies across the nation.

In 1872, the nation's first railway opened connecting Shimbashi and Yokohama stations. Since then, about 27,000 kilometers of passenger train lines run by JR and private railways have been built across the country. The six JR firms alone have 4,617 stations.

People working for the railways are often referred to as "railway men;" one rarely hears anyone say "railway women." Perhaps this is only natural, as only about 4,000, or 6.6 percent, of the 60,000 employees of East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) are women.

When Japanese National Railways was broken up and privatized in 1987, the number of female employees was less than 1 percent, according to railway experts.

The revised Labor Standards Law, put into effect in 1999, abolished restrictions against women working overtime, on holidays and on the late-night shift. After the law was revised, JR East began to employ women as drivers and conductors.

Currently, about 1,500 women work for the company as station staff, and there are about 150 female drivers and about 600 female conductors. It is still rare, however, for women to become stationmasters, with only four women attaining the position before Shirayama and Shimizu. Central Japan Railway Co. employs one female stationmaster works, and one is employed by Hokkaido Railway Co.

From 1989 to 2006, female stationmasters worked at four JR East stations, including Minami-Sendai Station in Miyagi Prefecture, Kakunodate Station in Akita Prefecture and Kawaguchi Station in Saitama Prefecture.

When asked why only six women have become JR East stationmasters, a company official said, "The women who were hired after privatization haven't reached the age where they are eligible to become stationmasters."

A stationmaster has an important post and is responsible for passengers' safety. Shirayama said she felt the weight of her new position when she was visited by a former Yotsuya stationmaster who told her that the most important part of her job was ensuring passenger safety.

According to JR East, the number of female executives who are in the same generation as Shirayama and Shimizu is increasing. "There'll be more female stationmasters in the future," a company public relations official said.