{"id":647283,"date":"2019-06-28T18:31:21","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T18:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"
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Japanese women take a stand against high heels<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Japanese women take a stand against high heels<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Japan’s health and labour minister has defended workplaces that require women to wear high heels to work, arguing it is “necessary and appropriate” after a petition was filed against the practice.<\/p>\n

The remark came when Takumi Nemoto was asked to comment on a petition by a group of women who want the government to ban workplaces from requiring female job seekers and employees to wear high heels.<\/p>\n

“It is socially accepted as something that falls with the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate,” Nemoto told a legislative committee on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The petition was submitted to the labour ministry on Tuesday, and the campaign has been dubbed #KuToo, a play on words from the Japanese word “kutsu” — meaning shoes — and “kutsuu” — meaning “pain”, and a reference to the global #MeToo movement against sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

The movement was launched by actress and freelance writer Yumi Ishikawa and quickly won support from thousands of people online.<\/p>\n

Campaigners say wearing high heels is seen as near-obligatory when job hunting or working at many Japanese companies.<\/p>\n

Some campaigners describe high heels as akin to modern foot-binding while others have urged a broader loosening of dress codes in the Japanese workplace, where business suits for men are ubiquitous.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the director of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival apologised after a controversy blew up over women being denied access to the red carpet for not wearing high heels. <\/p>\n

But Cannes kept the dress code, despite a protest by Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts who went barefoot the next year. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n