2% Female Bus Drivers—What the Number Reflects

In Hiroshima Prefecture, the proportion of female bus drivers stands at around 2%. The national average is also around 3%, indicating that Hiroshima is particularly low. While the shortage of drivers is a nationwide issue, the upcoming 2024 problem—regarding the application of limits on overtime work—will further tighten staffing for each operator.

So, why aren’t women applying? There are barriers that are not visible simply by issuing a call to “increase hiring.”

First, there’s the issue of work shifts. With working hours ranging from early morning to late at night, it’s challenging for bus drivers to align their schedules with their daily lives. If the pick-up times for daycare coincide with work hours, those with childcare responsibilities are not even considered as applicants. Next, there’s the need for proper rest and changing facilities. It is still not uncommon for there to be insufficient changing rooms or restrooms for women at bus depots. Furthermore, there’s the workplace culture. The hurdle for a woman to enter a male-dominated environment that has operated this way for many years is higher than one might imagine.

Some operators have begun to implement short shifts that avoid childcare hours and trial mentor systems connecting female drivers. These initiatives are not “special treatment” but rather a correction of a system that has been designed with a specific demographic—adult males who can work full-time—in mind.

The 2% figure does not reflect a lack of motivation among women. It is a reflection of a history where the system has said “you can come” while failing to provide the actual conditions for them to do so.

—

Kure City Childcare Fair—Will People Gather and Stay?

The “Childcare Fair Autumn 2026” planned by Kure City aims to secure personnel for the childcare sector. Multiple childcare facilities will gather to create opportunities for job seekers to connect directly. Increasing such matching opportunities is meaningful in itself. However, the critical question is whether “the people gathered can continue working.”

According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Basic Survey on Wage Structure (2023), the average monthly salary for childcare workers is about 270,000 yen (excluding bonuses). This remains low compared to the average across all industries. Within Hiroshima Prefecture, there are regional disparities, and in mid-sized cities like Kure, conditions tend to be worse than in Hiroshima City. Additionally, the staffing standards for childcare workers—30 to 1 for 4- and 5-year-olds—are comparatively inadequate when viewed against OECD countries. The burden on the ground is heavier than the numbers suggest.

The high turnover rate is also structural. The three main reasons cited for leaving the profession are “low pay,” “heavy workload,” and “interpersonal relationships.” Even if a fair creates opportunities for encounters, if the environment at the workplace does not change, people will quietly leave.

What Kure City should truly be asking is not “how to gather people” but rather “how to create a system that allows those gathered to still be there three years later.” The fair is merely an entrance. The design of the corridor and rooms beyond the entrance is what truly matters.

—

Higashi-Hiroshima City—Redesigning Who Takes Responsibility for Club Activities

The community transition model project for club activities that began in Higashi-Hiroshima City has garnered attention as a response to the serious issue of long working hours for teachers. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has indicated a phased approach starting in 2023, with a trend emerging nationwide to delegate weekend club activity guidance to local organizations and clubs.

However, the arrow of transition from “schools to communities” remains suspended without a proper design for the receiving end.

The biggest challenge is securing qualified instructors. Local sports enthusiasts cannot simply become instructors. Who will establish training systems for teaching methods appropriate to children’s developmental stages, safety management, and harassment prevention? Who will bear the costs? A structure that relies on the goodwill of volunteers will collapse the moment that goodwill runs out.

The issue of operational funding cannot be overlooked either. If the burden on parents increases, there is a risk that children from economically disadvantaged families will be excluded from club activities. Even a monthly fee of several thousand yen can significantly impact a household with multiple siblings. If the ideal of “raising children in the community” ultimately results in a system where only children from families that can afford it can participate, it becomes counterproductive.

How far the model project in Higashi-Hiroshima City can go remains to be seen. Whether it can incorporate appropriate compensation for instructors, establish training systems, and provide exemptions for low-income households into the foundational design will determine its success.

—

The Common Structure Indicated by the Three Sites

The bus driver’s seat, the childcare room, and the after-school ground. While the three sites differ in industry and target, they share a common underlying structure.

There are policies to attract people, but the design that allows them to stay is lagging behind.

Recruitment campaigns for female drivers, childcare fairs, and community transition model projects—each of these is a correct attempt to widen the entrance. However, if we only widen the entrance without changing the internal structure, people will simply come and go, like a revolving door.

What is often overlooked here is that the design of the system embeds an implicit assumption about “who it is designed for.” The working system for bus drivers assumes full-time males, the wage levels for childcare workers assume “supplementary income for the household,” and the guidance for club activities assumes “teachers’ dedication” as implicit premises. When these assumptions diverge from reality, the system quietly becomes dysfunctional.

Before lamenting the shortage of workers, we must ask: For whom was this system designed to make things easier? And who is being excluded?

—

Future Points of Interest—A Phase Where the “Content” of the System is Questioned

These initiatives in Hiroshima Prefecture are still in their infancy. It will take time to see results. Therefore, what should be pursued is not “how many people gathered” but rather the retention numbers—”how many of those gathered can continue working.”

When the percentage of female bus drivers increases to 5% or 10%, how will shifts and facilities change? Will the childcare workers met at the fair still be at their facilities a year later? In the community-transitioned club activities, are instructors receiving appropriate compensation, and can children participate regardless of their economic situation?

Whether we can have systems that can answer these questions will change the meaning of the phrase “there are not enough people.” What is lacking is not people, but the reasons for them to be there.

If a day comes when the term “labor force” becomes unnecessary due to the quiet trial and error happening at these three sites, it will be due to the stability of the foundation that allows people to stand, rather than the volume of the call for people.