A social media campaign against dress codes and expectations that women wear high heels at work has gone viral in Japan, with thousands joining the #KuToo movement.

Nearly 20,000 women have signed an online petition demanding the government ban companies from requiring female employees to wear high heels on the job — an example of gender discrimination, says Yumi Ishikawa, who started the drive.

The #KuToo campaign is a play on the word for shoes, or “kutsu” in Japanese, and “kutsuu” or pain.

Ishikawa, a 32-year-old actress and freelance writer, hopes the petition she submitted to the health ministry will lead to changes in the workplace and greater awareness about gender discrimination. She launched the campaign after tweeting about being forced to wear high heels for a part-time job at a funeral parlor — and drew an overwhelming response from women.

“After work, everyone changes into sneakers or flats,” she wrote in the petition, adding that high heels can cause bunions, blisters and strain the lower back.

“It’s hard to move, you can’t run and your feet hurt. All because of manners,” she wrote.

While many Japanese companies may not explicitly require female employees to wear high heels, many women do so because of tradition and social expectations.

Ishikawa said her campaign had received more attention from international media outlets than domestic ones, and there was a tendency in Japan to portray the issue as a health one, not a gender one.

“Japan is thickheaded about gender discrimination,” she said. “It’s way behind other countries in this regard.”

Japan ranks 110th out of 149 countries in the World Economic Forum’s gender-equality ranking.

“We need people to realize that gender discrimination can show up in lots of small ways,” Ishikawa said, from how women are treated by their bosses to expectations that women will do all the housework and child-rearing even if they work.

In decades past, businessmen were expected to wear neckties, but that has changed since the government started a “cool biz” campaign in 2005 to encourage companies to turn down air-conditioners and reduce electricity use.

“It would be great if the country had a similar kind of campaign about high heels,” said Ishikawa.

She said she had been the target of online harassment over the campaign, mostly from men.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【着装规范】zhuózhuāng guīfàn dress code a set of rules or guidelines regarding the manner of dress acceptable in an office, restaurant, etc.

【愚蠢的】yúchǔn de thickheaded dull-witted, stupid

日本最近兴起一场反对着装规范和职场女性穿高跟鞋的社交媒体运动，成千上万的人加入了了这场#KuToo运动。

近2万名女性在网上签署请愿书，请求政府下令禁止公司要求女员工穿高跟鞋上班，发起这项运动的石川由美说，这种要求是性别歧视。

“#KuToo”运动的名称来自日文中鞋子（kutsu）和痛苦（kutsuu）谐音。

现年32岁的石川由美是一名演员兼自由撰稿人，她希望自己提交给日本厚生劳动省的请愿书能改变工作环境，提高人们对性别歧视的意识。

她在推特上发布了被迫穿高跟鞋在殡仪馆做兼职的消息后，发起了这项活动，并得到了女性的热烈响应。

她在请愿书中写道：“下班后，每个人都会换上运动鞋或平底鞋”，并补充说，高跟鞋会导致拇囊炎、水疱和下背部拉伤。

她写道：“穿着高跟鞋很难走路，不能跑，脚会疼。穿高跟鞋是出于礼仪要求。” 虽然许多日本公司或许没有明确要求女性员工穿高跟鞋，但很多女性出于传统和社会期望这么做。石川由美说，国际媒体对她这个活动的关注超过了国内媒体，在日本，这个问题被描述成健康问题而不是性别问题。她说：“日本在性别歧视问题上头脑迟钝。在这方面它远远落后于其他国家。”在世界经济论坛的性别平等排名中，日本在149个国家中排名第110位。

石川由美说：“人们需要认识到性别歧视在很多微小的方面表现出来。”从老板如何对待女性，到人们期望女性即使工作，也要做所有的家务和抚养孩子。过去几十年里人们认为商务人士要打领带，但自从日本政府在2005年发起了一场“清凉职场”运动以来情况发生了变化。该运动旨在鼓励企业减少使用空调，减少用电量。

石川由美说：“如果日本也能开展类似的拒穿高跟鞋的运动就太好了。”

她说，在活动期间，她一直受到网上骚扰，主要来自男性。(Chinadaily.com.cn)