Japanese society has grown more attentive to women’s rights in recent years. However, institutions can be slow to catch up. Mimicking decisions made by local police forces, Japan’s National Police Agency is taking a leap forward by updating its fashions for female police officers.
As covered by FNN, Japan’s National Police Agency, which sets guidelines and regulations for the country’s 47 prefectures, is updating uniform guidelines for the first time in 31 years. The move includes retiring the use of skirts for female officers. The move will go into effect in April 2025 and apply to the 260,000 uniformed offers across the country, of which around 10% – 20,645 – are women.
The move follows a similar one by Kanagawa Prefecture in February of this year. The prefecture updated its own uniform guidelines to stop issuing skirts after a survey showed that most female officers found them too impractical for chasing down suspects.
Skirts for female officers is an artifact of an era where women officers were considered at best eye candy or at worst amusement for male officers, a view that kept most of them sidelined in traffic control jobs. Up until 1994, female officers could only wear slacks during the winter. The NPA says it’s received regular feedback from both male and female officers wondering why uniforms are still gendered.
The NPA guidelines will also update other aspects of the uniforms to make them align between genders. For example, rank insignia on lapels and the police symbol on hats are currently smaller on women’s uniforms. The new regulations will make them the same size regardless of gender.
There’s something for the men in the NPA’s updated guidelines as well. As part of the change, the new guidelines will issue polyester polo shirts that officers can wear in the summer. Caps will also be outfitted with mesh on top. Caps and badges will also now be washable.
Comments on Yahoo! News JP seem mostly in favor of the change, with many agreeing that it makes sense for officers – all officers – to have clothing that fits the job. With women in Japan still facing harassment in the workplace and even during job interviews, it’s nice to see most people agree that this is a positive change.
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