Workplace rules in Japan banned women from wearing eyeglasses on the job - but Business Insider reporting just spurred lawmaking to change that

• Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has written new laws introducing penalties for sexist rules that require working women to wear high heels and contact lenses instead of glasses at work.
• The decision comes after Business Insider Japan's Ikuko Takeshita reported on the #kutoo movement, the movement against unfair rules for working women.
• According to Takeshita, women have long been seen as "flowers of the workplace," but things are changing.
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Japan's #kutoo movement - a movement against workplace rules mandating women wear high heels and barring them from wearing eye glasses - just scored a major win.

Japan Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato said publicly that it's a violation of the Equal Employment Act for only women to be prohibited from wearing glasses. The minister went as far as to say that assigning specific clothing based on sex is gender discrimination and subsequently made such sexist rules illegal.

#kutoo is a reference to the #MeToo movement and a play on the words "kutsu" (shoes) and "kutsū" (pain).

Kato's declaration underscores an important shift in a country that has grappled with sexism. The World Economic Forum ranked Japan 121st of 153 countries worldwide included in its 2019 gender equality report. In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reported widespread gender inequality in the workplace, with men being offered more promotions and better pay.

The government's new rules follow outcry arising from reporting by Business Insider Japan's Ikuko Takeshita, who exposed the prevalence of rules requiring women to wear uncomfortable high heels and being banned from wearing eyeglasses.

"Once the article was published, women from all walks of life started sharing their stories - women working at hotels, at beauty salons, in the bridal industry, makeup professionals, women showing model homes, even at temples and shrines, and many in the service industry," Takeshita told Business Insider US.

One woman reported having to wear contact lenses, commute and work included, for 12 hours a day. Her eyes were so dry and irritated, that during her breaks, she often simply closes her eyes to rest them.

"It goes to show you how much people, myself included, think that 'women who work in front of other people just don't wear glasses,' and how much that has ingrained in us," she said.

According to Takeshita, it's part of a long-held cultural belief in Japan.

"It is simply sexism, and lookism (discriminatory treatment toward people who are considered physically unattractive). Japanese society has for a long time considered women to be 'flowers of the workplace.' This idea is widespread and deeply rooted in society," she said.

But the new laws from Japan's Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare show how society is changing. "Many have shared online and spoke up," Takeshita said. "Many have noticed the unfair expectations between men and women in how they have to dress at work, and that has sparked their interest in the feminist movement."