Women in Japan fight stigma of wearing glasses to the office

Glasses, say some companies in Japan, are not right for women to wear to work.

In recent reports by Japan’s Nippon TV and Business Insider Japan, women from a range of industries described being instructed by their employers not to wear glasses.

One receptionist recalled being told that glasses were not allowed, but a male receptionist was permitted to don corrective eyewear, Business Insider reported.

A nurse at a beauty clinic developed dry eye from long hours in contacts but also was not allowed to wear glasses. Her employer imposed other requirements: Makeup was a must, as was making sure she didn’t gain too much weight.

A domestic airline reportedly has the no-glasses rule for safety reasons.

Some restaurants said glasses on female employees didn’t go well with their traditional attire.

Why all the fuss? Glasses can give a “cold impression,” or cover up one’s makeup, or just aren’t liked by the boss, said the women interviewed.

All of this was apparently news to many women in Japan, who, upon hearing what their fellow women have had to endure, took to social media to break that glasses ceiling.

#glassesareforbidden has been trending in Japan since Wednesday.

“Isn’t it so troublesome when you can see all the middle-aged men in the world?” one woman tweeted with a picture of her new glasses.

There don’t appear to be any official numbers on how widespread the bans are. But judging from the reaction, the news has touched a nerve among Japanese women tired of being scrutinized and regulated in ways that they say their male counterparts are not.

Many online commentators drew a connection to another recent uproar over Japanese workplaces requiring women to wear heeled shoes.

Yumi Ishikawa helped spark #KuToo, a movement to outlaw such requirements. She told Bloomberg News: “If wearing glasses is a real problem at work, it should be banned for everyone — men and women. This problem with glasses is the exact same as high heels. It’s only a rule for female workers.”

Others on social media this week compared the glasses controversy to restrictions on clothing in Japanese schools, known as “black school rules.” Many Japanese schools mandate, for example, that students must have black hair and style it in certain ways.

It’s not just Japan where bespectacled women face public scrutiny. Last year, a South Korean morning news presenter broke ranks when she wore glasses on air, as some male counterparts do. This was a change from her previous look of contacts and false eyelashes. The move was seen as a big affront to Korean female beauty standards and prompted the presenter to explain that sometimes her eyes were just too dry or tired for contacts.

In Japan, many women have had it. Ms. Ishikawa submitted a petition in June asking the government to bar companies from imposing sexist dress codes, like requirements that women wear heels, makeup or glasses.

“Women are evaluated mostly on their appearance,” Kumiko Nemoto, a professor of sociology at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, told the BBC. “That’s the message that these policies are sending, at least.”