On Monday a group of women submitted a petition to the Japanese government to protest against what they say is a de facto requirement for female staff to wear high heels at work. The #KuToo campaign – a play on words from the Japanese kutsu, meaning shoes, and kutsuu, meaning pain – was launched by the actor and freelance writer Yumi Ishikawa and quickly won support online. In the petition, Ishikawa states that high heels can cause women a number of health issues, and had become a burden to her employment, stating "I hope this campaign will change the social norm so that it won't be considered to be bad manners when women wear flat shoes like men," Ishikawa told the BBC. Campaigners have said wearing high heels was considered to be near-obligatory when job hunting or working at many Japanese companies, and said the requirement of wearing high heeled shoes is akin to modern foot-binding.
Ishikawa told reporters: “Today we submitted a petition calling for the introduction of laws banning employers from forcing women to wear heels as sexual discrimination or harassment.”
On Wednesday, Japan’s health and labour minister, Takumi Nemoto, when asked to comment on the petition, defended workplaces that require women to wear high heels to work, arguing “It is socially accepted as something that falls within the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate”.
One commentator on the JapanToday website asked, “Why is it necessary? Heels are incredibly painful and serve no function whatsoever. Why can’t women just work without having to be some sort of eye-candy for someone else?” Others suggested that the minister should be required to wear high heels for a week to see if he enjoyed the experience (an option which I am sure would quickly result in a change in the law!)
A similar petition against high heels at work was signed by more than 150,000 people in the UK in 2016 after receptionist Nicola Thorp was sent home from work for wearing flat shoes (refusing to wear 2-4in heels). Thorp's case prompted an inquiry on workplace dress codes by a committee of MPs, which highlighted other cases in the UK where women were required to wear heels, even for jobs that included climbing ladders, carrying heavy luggage, carrying food and drink up and down stairs or walking long distances. The UK Government refused to change the law, claiming scope for redress already existed under the Equality Act 2010.
What strikes me as absolutely crazy is that this is an issue at all. In 2019, why are grown women considered seemingly incapable of making their own decisions about what they put on their feet in the morning?!
An article by Yamini Pustake Bhalerao I came across summarises this perfectly: "Many women love to wear high heels and for various reasons. Some wear it to add height to their stature. Others wear it because it makes them look sexy, while many think it adds a certain dimension to their personality. Then there are few, like me, who see high heels as the worst thing one could do to their feet. But the most important aspect, as it is with any accessory, is the agency to make a choice. We all choose or choose not to wear heels. When you remove this choice from the equation, high heels get reduced to yet another method to sexualise or objectify women. Foot fetish makes many men see women wearing heels as attractive. They are automatically perceived to be sexy, sharp and “presentable.” This, however, has nothing to do with their capabilities as a professional. Wearing high heels doesn’t make you a better doctor, engineer, lawyer or corporate woman. Thus, it makes no sense to make it compulsory for working women to wear it to work."
Read more at:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/05/high-heels-at-work-are-necessary-says-japan-labour-minister
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/06/japans-labour-minister-mocked-saying-high-heels-necessary-reasonable/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48534453
https://www.shethepeople.tv/blog/kutoo-movement-why-women-in-japan-want-to-get-rid-of-high-heels
