How Junko Tabei defied 1970s social norms to become the first woman atop Everest

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1975, Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest, shattering the belief that women belonged at home. Facing avalanches, societal scorn, and financial hurdles, she transformed mountaineering from a male-dominated pursuit into a global path for women, eventually conquering the highest peaks on every continent.

Born in 1939, Junko Tabei grew up in an era where Japanese women were expected to prioritize domestic life over professional ambitions. After graduating from Showa Women's University, she encountered significant resistance from male climbers who questioned her motives or refused to partner with her. In 1969, she founded the Joshi-Tohan Club, Japan's first women-only mountaineering group, with the defiant slogan: Let's go on an overseas expedition by ourselves.

The path to Everest was fraught with obstacles. Tabei and her team, the Japanese Women's Everest Expedition, spent four years waiting for a climbing permit. Funding was equally difficult to secure; Tabei was frequently told she should be raising children rather than climbing. To cover her share of the costs, she taught piano lessons and even fashioned her own gear, sewing trousers from old curtains and crafting waterproof gloves from car covers.

During the 1975 expedition, disaster struck when an avalanche buried Tabei and four others at 6,300 meters. Though she lost consciousness and was left bruised and barely able to walk, she resumed the climb after two days of recovery. Her success on May 16, 1975, opened doors for hundreds of women who followed. Tabei did not stop there, becoming the first woman to complete the Seven Summits and eventually climbing the highest peak in over 60 countries.

Beyond her athletic feats, Tabei remained a vocal advocate for the challenges female athletes face, including the pressure to balance motherhood with high-risk careers. She spent her later years promoting environmental efforts on Everest and supporting youth affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. By the time she passed away in 2016 at age 77, she had fundamentally altered the landscape of global mountaineering.

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