The flight attendant who became CEO hopes more women will make it to the top
Mitsuko Tottori admits Japan has much more to do to get people like her into the chief executive seat. Tottori was named as the first female president and chief executive of Japan Airlines (JAL) in January, crowning a career that began nearly 40 years ago when she joined the airline as a flight attendant. Her rise is a rare feat in a nation where women still face major hurdles to promotion. “Japan is still in a place of establishing the initial goal to increase (the number of) female managers,” she told CNN in an interview at the airline’s headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday. “I hope that Japan will soon become a place where people are not surprised when a woman becomes a president.” “We do want to seriously increase the number of (women) managers, and more than that, I think it’s important that women themselves want to be active, so I really hope to see more and more of (them) in the future,” she added. Tottori, 59, began her career at the national carrier in 1985. Thirty years later, in 2015, she became senior director of cabin attendants and was steadily promoted up the ranks. Her background differs vastly from her predecessors. It is extremely rare for a former flight attendant to climb to the top job. Of the last 10 JAL presidents, seven graduated from the prestigious University of Tokyo. By contrast, Tottori attended the two-year Kwassui Women’s Junior College in Nagasaki, part of a network of institutions that has played a major role in women’s higher education. Tottori’s predecessor had a background in aviation maintenance, while the president before that started out as a pilot. Story has more. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2024-04-25/oneworld/the-flight-attendant-who-became-ceo-hopes-more-women-will-make-it-to-the-top
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The flight attendant who became CEO hopes more women will make it to the top
Mitsuko Tottori admits Japan has much more to do to get people like her into the chief executive seat. Tottori was named as the first female president and chief executive of Japan Airlines (JAL) in January, crowning a career that began nearly 40 years ago when she joined the airline as a flight attendant. Her rise is a rare feat in a nation where women still face major hurdles to promotion. “Japan is still in a place of establishing the initial goal to increase (the number of) female managers,” she told CNN in an interview at the airline’s headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday. “I hope that Japan will soon become a place where people are not surprised when a woman becomes a president.” “We do want to seriously increase the number of (women) managers, and more than that, I think it’s important that women themselves want to be active, so I really hope to see more and more of (them) in the future,” she added. Tottori, 59, began her career at the national carrier in 1985. Thirty years later, in 2015, she became senior director of cabin attendants and was steadily promoted up the ranks. Her background differs vastly from her predecessors. It is extremely rare for a former flight attendant to climb to the top job. Of the last 10 JAL presidents, seven graduated from the prestigious University of Tokyo. By contrast, Tottori attended the two-year Kwassui Women’s Junior College in Nagasaki, part of a network of institutions that has played a major role in women’s higher education. Tottori’s predecessor had a background in aviation maintenance, while the president before that started out as a pilot. Story has more. <br/>
