A ban on women wearing glasses in companies across Japan has sparked outrage after the practice emerged.
The reasons for the rule differ from industry to industry, according to local media, but some retailers reportedly said shop workers in glasses left customers with a “cold impression”.
While traditional restaurants argued that spectacles do not suit old-fashioned styles of Japanese clothing, employers in the beauty sector argued customers would not be able to see female worker’s makeup clearly enough beneath glasses.
Safety issues were cited as the reason behind the spectacles ban in the airline sector.
It remains to be seen if rules barring workers from wearing glasses are enforced by formal company regulations or are instead imposed via culturally established norms.
Anger in the country surfaced after Japanese network Nippon TV ran a story about firms that make female workers wear contact lenses instead of glasses.
The hashtag “glasses ban” has gained increasing traction on Twitter since Wednesday – with one woman saying she was forced to put lenses in when she had an eye infection and subsequently suffered pain and discomfort.
Kurgen
Article URL : https://news.yahoo.com/japanese-companies-ban-women-wearing-143534326.html