So Fox News cant even decide if the ban is a real thing or not? And then they go on to report all about it....
In fairness, they're reporting on the reaction to the glasses ban, a very real reaction. I don't think a whole lot of news sites went out of their way to check with half a dozen Japanese companies to see if they regulated women's eyewear in the lead up to this story. And even then, a company might not have an official ban - in which case they can say with a straight face they don't know what the journalist is talking about - but still have a workplace culture that pressures women to not wear glasses.
In fact, I'll quote the BBC here:
"There don’t appear to be any official numbers on how widespread the bans are. "It was not clear whether the so-called ‘bans’ were based on company policies, or rather reflected what was socially accepted practice in those workplaces,"
I'm sure westerners think this is horrific. I'm curious however to know what Japanese women think of it? We like to project our sense of freedom on other peoples but tend not to stop to ask what they actually think about it.
Barred from wearing glasses, Japan's working women take to Twitter | The Japan Times
The Japan Times is one of the publications that first brought up the story, which started on Japanese Twitter after Nippon TV did a segment on it. Japanese woman have brought up that they're told to not wear glasses even though their male coworkers can wear them whenever they want.
"One Twitter user said she was told by her previous employer that glasses didn’t appeal to customers, while another said she was compelled to endure the pain of wearing contact lenses while recovering from an eye infection."
From a different article:
Kumiko Nemoto, professor of sociology at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, said people in Japan were reacting to the "outdated" policies.
She 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."
She added that the reports reflected "old, traditional Japanese" thinking.
"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," Prof Nemoto said.
Note that this is following up on other backlashes this year to other dress code rules that only apply to woman. Namely, that women have to wear high heels to work and wear make-up.
