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The story
Women-only job titles like “stewardess” and “Yakult Lady” are increasingly being swapped out for gender-neutral terms. The original article highlighted new coinages like “Sonaeru-ju.” On 5ch, the thread split between posters questioning what practical difference the new names actually make and those who dismissed the skeptics as out-of-touch relics. Many replies pointed to real-world job titles — Yakult Ladies, Pink Lady, the history of JAL and ANA’s cabin crew titles — to argue just how messy renaming actually gets.
Job titles that once specified a woman’s gender are shifting toward gender-neutral forms. The hope seems to be that moving past gender distinctions will open the door for a more diverse range of people to thrive. (By Saki Sakamoto)
■”Out of step with the times”
“Our nickname is now ‘Sonaeru-ju.’”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
Customers have no idea what the job even is, so you end up having to explain it every single time.
You'll inevitably have to invent a separate term that actually makes sense to outsiders.
How long are we going to keep up this outdated genderless act
Men and women actually are different, you know
Most people in the world are idiots anyway
so it's best not to expect too much from society
Yeah, I really do think that too
Stop wasting time on this nonsense and get back to work
It's probably just busywork, but must be nice having such an easy job
Fair point, but there's no need to deliberately create gender distinctions either
I guess it counts as Japanese, since it comes from "sonaeru" (to prepare/equip)?
"Sonaeru-jo" would just barely pass as Japanese
That's exactly my point
"Yakult Boy" just makes you wonder where exactly the Yakult is coming from, and "Yakult Person" doesn't sit right either.
Yakult sales work by having the seller buy stock from Yakult every morning and resell it to customers
so if you're unattractive or a man, you simply can't move product and won't last
in the end, only charming, cute women survive in that job
A Hayashiya Pāko wannabe? (a famously loud, flamboyant Japanese TV personality)
Then what about "Pink Saturn"?
And "My Wife" too, lol
Welcome to the world of out-of-touch old-timers
A textbook case of an out-of-touch old-timer
So JAL only switched to "CA" (cabin attendant) quite a while after everyone else, huh
JAL looked down on ANA, so they probably didn't want to copy them
Once JAL went bankrupt, though, the tables turned
In the US and UK it's "flight attendant," isn't it
"female doctor," "actress," "Miss So-and-so" — why would you want to shrink your own spotlight like that?
I'm in my 20s, and honestly all of those sound dated to me
"Joyuu" (actress) makes me think of "sexy actress" (a porn-industry term) these days
It took me about two days to get used to just calling everyone "actor,"
but "actor Non" or "actor Yu Aoi" sound great to me
Rename it "Vajainuru Day" (a crude pun riffing on "vagina")
Instead of scrapping it outright, they just made it cheaper for men too
Ladies' Day → Cinema Day
with discounts for both men and women
Background and Key Points of Debate
Gender-neutral job titles have been a long-running trend in the airline and service industries — as one thread post noted, JAL switched to calling its cabin crew “CA” later than ANA did, showing that individual companies have each picked their own terminology rather than following any unified standard. There’s no legal requirement driving this; it’s largely a branding choice. The thread split along two lines: a practical argument over whether changing a title actually accomplishes anything (since new terms can be confusing and require extra explanation), versus a values-based argument that the old titles are simply “out of step with the times.” Neither the article nor the replies touch on this, but it’s worth noting for readers: renaming a job title doesn’t change the actual duties or working conditions that come with it — a change in name and a change in substance are two separate issues that are easy to conflate.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “The disappearing “XX Lady” — gender-neutral titles spread… “Sonaeru-ju,” “Ambassador,” “Cabin Attendant”.”
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