Women in Japan just can’t seem to catch a break. They already face enough hurdles in the workplace and in daily life, such as being harassed on public transport. In late October, a Business Insider Japan article revealed another aspect of the workplace women have to deal with: not having permission to wear glasses.
“Am I a Professional or a Mannequin?”
The Business Insider article, penned by Takeshita Ikuko, covers the experiences of two anonymous women, A-san and B-san. Employers told A-san, a 20-year-old receptionist, not to wear glasses because it was too “showy” (華やか; hanayaka). She wore contacts, but suffered from dry eye syndrome and fatigue, forcing her to take several breaks during the day to rest her eyes. At A-san’s last job, she still couldn’t wear glasses, even though her male coworkers were allowed to.
32-year-old B-san, a nurse at a beauty clinic, also couldn’t wear glasses. She switched to contacts and developed dry eye syndrome as a result, using eye drops constantly throughout her 8- or 10-hour workdays. Her employers enforced other sexist demands such as “don’t gain weight” and “don’t wear too much makeup.”
大学病院では技術や知識が評価基準でしたが、美容クリニックでは技術よりも美しさ、看護師でありながら『マネキン』であることを求められていたような気がします。
“In graduate school, things like technique and knowledge were the criteria for evaluation, but at beauty clinics, beauty is prized over technique. I felt like they wanted me to be a mannequin rather than a nurse.”
According to the article, a job-hunting website claims women in glasses give off a “cold impression” (冷たい印象; tsumetai inshou) and are therefore hard to approach, a big no-no in the hospitality industries. Wearing glasses is also looked down upon when job hunting or at interviews.
#メガネ禁止 Hits Social Media
Not surprisingly, the article stirred up a lot of anger. The practice drew a lot of criticism from Japanese women, including #KuToo founder Ishikawa Yumi. Twitter users posted under their thoughts and stories under the hashtag #メガネ禁止. User @sdi36381855 asked, “So if the sight of bald fat men is unseemly, are they banned from the workplace?” Others called out the outdated generational standards for feminine beauty. Even Western media outlets caught on to the furor. The Washington Post covered the phenomenon fairly accurately. Even celebrities like Cyndi Lauper voiced their support for women needing glasses.
Executive Secretary Sakurada Kengo (櫻田謙悟) called the bans “nonsense.” Professor Nemoto Kumiko (根本宮美子) of Kyoto University says these bans, whether company policy or social standards, are entirely discriminatory. “These companies find value in how feminine women look, not the way women work,” she states. “Women wearing glasses are considered the opposite of the feminine ideal.” The dress codes enforce women look a certain way, placing more value on appearance than actual competency.
Will anything come out of this? Aside from Secretary Sakurada’s comment, the government doesn’t seem to be acting up. Speaking out is one thing, but unless action is taken, this will become just another episode of unresolved gender discrimination.
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