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.

 

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。

 

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 gender¹ 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 ministry² will lead to changes in the workplace and greater awareness³ about gender discrimination.

 

She launched the campaign after tweeting about being forced to wear high heels for a part-time job at a funeral parlor⁴ - and drew an overwhelming response from women.

 

While many Japanese companies may not explicitly⁵ 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 outlets⁶ than domestic ones, and there was a tendency in Japan to portray⁷ the issue as a health one, not a gender one.

 

"Japan is thickheaded about gender discrimination," she told Reuters in an interview. "It’s way behind other countries in this regard."

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