Business Practices Japanese Features Society and Customs

Weird Corporate Practices in Japan Part 1

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Very shocking news has recently been reported in Japan.  Some Japanese companies have pretty strict rules on employee's dress codes.  They seem to be discriminatory to female workers.

Photo by Igor Link from Pixabay used under CC

In October, 2019, an article on the Internet reported a lot of female employees are prohibited from wearing glasses at the workplace.  It shook business community and has made a fuss over this rule in Japanese society.

This recent report has got viral on the Internet.  Female workers have started sharing their first-hand experiences and voiced their opinions through social network channels.  Those who hear "real" voices also argued for and against this rule.

This "strange" and "discriminatory" rule is applied to female employees, starting from receptionists of companies, nurses at beauty clinics, beauticians, to cabin attendants.  Some "legitimate" reasons are provided by those companies for the prohibition, such as safety reasons for both employees and customers.  But mostly the reason seems to be related to one superficial element: women in glasses do not look beautiful or elegant.

This company practice clearly exemplifies double-standard, which imposes extra burden on female workers.  Female employees are required to be competent in their appearance as well as performance in their work.  For male receptionists, on the other hand, wearing glasses is allowed.   Female cabin attendants in foreign carriers are allowed to wear glasses as males ones are. 

It has turned out that such corporate rules are not just glasses, but include other dress codes, such as the height of female shoes, types of clothes, and make-ups.  Indeed historically, back in the 1970s, female workers used to wear company's uniforms.  This is only applied for female employees.  As society matures, however, this practice has loosened up and allowed them to choose whatever they feel comfortable in to work efficiently as long as they look decent, which means not giving sloppy impressions to customers or clients.

What do you think so far?  Continued to the next post....