Yumiko Kadota was a young, gifted medical student - the top of her class - on her way to becoming an outstanding plastic and reconstructive surgeon. For fourteen years she’d studied and worked hard. She put in 70-hour weeks at the public hospital as a plastic surgery registrar, accepted everything her superiors threw at her because that’s what you do to get on, right? Her life revolved around her work, but it was okay because it would all amount to a stellar, dream career down the track. In 2018, she walked away from it all.   

Emotional Female charts Kadota’s rugged journey through ambition and dedication to exploitation and eventual collapse - and beyond. Yumiko Kadota is a voice for her generation when it comes to work practices and burnout, but she’s also someone other generations can look to as a symptom of what’s acceptable in the workplace.