Glasses ban for women employees in some Japanese workplaces

#glassesareforbidden has been trending on social media in Japan after a television report explored how some companies do not allow female employees to wear glasses when at work.

Reasons for this highlighted in the Nippon TV network programme included for safety reasons on domestic airlines, difficulties seeing the employee’s makeup behind glasses in the beauty industry and giving off a ‘cold impression’ as a shop assistant according to major retail chains. Traditional Japanese restaurants added that glasses do not go well with traditional Japanese outfits.

Professor of sociology at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies Kumiko Nemoto disagreed with the report and said: ‘The reasons why women are not supposed to wear glasses... really don't make sense. It's all about gender. It's pretty discriminatory. It's not about how women do their work. The company... values the women's appearance as being feminine and that's opposite to someone who wears glasses.’