[/floatr]Yomiuri: Why are female stationmasters still so rare?
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...Only about 4,000, or 6.6%, of the 60,000 employees of JR East are women...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 [the recent appointments of] Shirayama and Shimizu. Central Japan Railway Co. employs one female stationmaster works, and one is employed by Hokkaido Railway Co. 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....There'll be more female stationmasters in the future"...more...
