KuToo

Transcript:

Erh, now many corporate firms around the world enforce strict dress codes but one Japanese woman is taking a stand. The actor and writer Yumi Ishikawa, has launched a campaign urging the government to ban companies forcing women to wear high heel shoes to work. She's handed in a petition signed by nearly 20,000 people. She began her campaign after she was forced to wear high heels while working at a funeral parlour. Ramzan Karmali reports:

Yumi Ishikawa, the woman forced to wear high heels for a part-time job in a funeral parlour. Now she's campaigning. She wants the Japanese government to ban firms from forcing women to wear high heels to work.

"Many women feel that they should wear heeled shoes in the office or when job hunting. So I wanted to change the situation in Japanese customs.

Ms. Ishikawa handed in a petition signed by around 19,000 to the Ministry of Health. Her campaign has been named KuToo on social media to mimic the MeToo movement. It's also a play on two Japanese words meaning shoe and pain.

This isn't the first time a campaign has been launched to change dress codes at work for women. In 2015, a London receptionist was sent home from work without pay after she refused to wear high heels. Nicola Thorpe set up a petition calling for UK dress code laws to be changed.

"This was never just about a pair of shoes. It's about how women are viewed in the workplace. That there's so much pressure on women to, not just look professional, but to look attractive.

Following media coverage, the firm that sent Ms. Thorpe home changed their policy on high heels. In 2017 a Canadian Province scrapped the dress code which required female workers to wear high heels. The government of British Columbia said forcing women to wear them, was not only a form of discrimination, but wearers face a risk of physical injury from slipping or falling as well as possible damage to their feet, legs and back. Ramzan Karmali, BBC News