"Lookism" is a term used to describe the phenomenon of discriminating against someone, based on their looks.Getty Images / Atsushi Yamada
- Women aren't being allowed to wear glasses by various employers in Japan.
- From department stores and showrooms to the hospitality industry and beauty clinics, a number of workplaces have banned women from wearing the eyewear.
- Reasons range from glasses allegedly making women look cold, unfriendly, unfeminine, or too intelligent.
- Business Insider interviewed women affected by the phenomenon — some were asked by employers to redo their hair, wear thicker lash extensions, or to look more sweet and feminine.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Women in a variety of workplaces across Japan, including receptions at department stores and showrooms to hospitality staff and nurses at beauty clinics, have been banned from wearing glasses.
Apparently, glasses aren't being treated as just medical aids; while people being teased for wearing glasses isn't a new phenomenon, having them entirely banned at work takes the problem to a whole new extreme.
A Japanese woman who chose to remain anonymous, Ms. A, is in her twenties and works as a receptionist in a major department store, where she said she's been banned from wearing glasses while working.
The main responsibilities of her role are providing customer service, as well as lending out strollers and wheelchairs to customers.
She explained that her superior had told her "glasses are prohibited."
"He said this as though it were obvious," she said. "I told myself at that time that we weren't allowed glasses because we needed to look feminine, that it just wouldn't do to wear them."
Any makeup beyond what you might describe as "conservative" is also prohibited.Getty Images / Shuji Kobayashi
"Now that I think about it, perhaps it was that they wanted us all to look uniform," she said, "as though we were part of some kind of gymnastics squad."
Ms. A's vision is below 0.01. She works five days a week for roughly eight hours every day. If you take into account her commute, she has to wear contact lenses for what works out to over 12 hours a day. Her eyes were so irritated from dryness and fatigue that she would sometimes just close her eyes for the duration of her breaks.
"There are times when it's bad whatever I do," said Ms. A, "and there are often mornings where I just think to myself, 'I wish I could wear glasses.'"
The uniform consists of a dress and shoes — provided by the company — which are 2-inch heel pumps.
"In those first few years I started working, I was told over and over that I needed to look sweeter and more feminine," she said.
Any makeup beyond what you might describe as "conservative" is also prohibited — for example, glittery eye shadows, dark lip colors, colored contact lenses, and eyelash extensions are all forbidden.
The uniform consists of a dress and the shoes — provided by the company — are 2-inch heel pumps.Getty Images / gradyreese
Rules for hair color are also clearly outlined in the company's guidelines and if your hair is even a shade too light and your manager catches wind of it, you'll be reprimanded.
In Japan, it's generally good manners to wear a face mask if you think you're coming down with a cold, to prevent others from catching your illness.
But at Ms. A's company, even masks aren't allowed.
Ms. A said: "I was worried that if I got a cold, I wouldn't be able to go to work. It'd be discourteous to customers [to turn up without wearing a face mask]."
Every employee who works at Ms. A's department store is female and those are the rules — only salespeople on the floor are allowed to wear glasses, masks, and lower-heeled shoes.
Yet, for male receptionists, wearing glasses is entirely acceptable.
Ms. A said: "I was worried that if I got a cold, I wouldn't be able to go to work. It'd be rude to customers [to turn up without wearing a face mask]."Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
In fact, in another commercial organization where Ms. A worked, she was banned from wearing glasses there too. Again, male receptionists were allowed to wear glasses but, for some reason, women were not.
At the time, women with long hair were asked to do their hair in a "Yakai Maki" style, a sort of an updo.
They would be asked to do their hair again if it hadn't been done presentably enough. Ms. A was reluctant to spend 30 minutes on her hair every morning — so she cut her hair.
"Suddenly, I realized I wasn't being paid for the time I was spending on doing my hair, and I felt depressed," she said. "I felt the same about the contact lenses and make-up."
"It seems like only women are being asked for the appearance of beauty and feminine that isn't imposed on men," she pondered. "I just don't understand."
"I like working in customer service, and I take pride in my role," Ms. A continued, "but I don't want to be 'feminine' in the workplace. It should be the thoughtful attitude I have towards clients [rather than my hair] that matters. I want the rules to be reviewed."
Women with long hair are asked in some places to do their hair in a "Yakai Maki" style, a sort of an updo.Getty Images / RunPhoto
Looking "intelligent" can be a setback when you're seeking work, according to Ms. A.
With glasses being preferred in the hospitality industry, there are even job recruitment sites that recommend switching to contact lenses.
Ms. A isn't the only one prohibited from wearing glasses at work.
According to a survey by Business Insider Japan, women who work in showrooms "have a very narrow set of rules, covering hair color, nails, and glasses."
A female student in her twenties responded to the survey, saying: "In the hospitality sector, I was told to switch to contact lenses because wearing glasses is unhygienic".
Even if glasses aren't prohibited, some women were told by their employers that they simply don't like women wearing glasses.
Even if glasses aren't prohibited, some women were told by their employers that they simply don't like women wearing glasses.Shutterstock
The recruitment site also said, when you wear glasses, it's hard to read your facial expression and depending on the person, many might perceive you as cold or unfriendly — or just smart.
"I have dry eyes and I need my eye drops at work," she said.
"Society's gaze toward women numbs your senses."
It isn't just the service industry that has a problem with glasses; Ms. B, 32, who worked as a nurse at a beauty clinic was also affected.
In her company's guidelines for dress-code, it clearly stated that glasses weren't allowed.
B's vision is 0.3 — her working day would at 10 a.m. and finished at 8 p.m., but there are often times where she would have to work overtime. It wasn't unheard of for employees to sometimes work until 10 p.m. Ms. B said that, through wearing contact lenses all day, she ended up suffering constantly with dry eyes.
There are even job recruitment sites that recommend switching to contact lenses.Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
"Many of my colleagues keep eye drops in their pockets would use it while working," she said. "Some even had laser surgery."
Her work also involved recommending hair removal and skin-lightening treatments to patients.
At work, her boss would reprimand her if she were to work without wearing makeup or even wearing a slightly less full set of fake eyelashes.
"I was taken aback at the start," she said, "but I quickly adjusted to it. Society's gaze toward women numbs your senses."
"Many of my colleagues keep eye drops in their pockets would use it while working," she said. "Some even had laser surgery."Getty Images / Hitoshi Nishimura
"I was told it would help boost sales, it would make me more convincing and I accepted it," she said. "At the university hospital, we were judged based on our technique and knowledge but at beauty clinics, it was more about looks. I was a nurse but felt like I was being asked to be a sort of a doll."
"I had my reservations," said Ms. B, "but beauty clinics are a place where you're told: 'if you think it's hard, you can just quit.' There are plenty of young, driven potential employees with nice skin who can take your place."
"Being there just numbed me," she went on. "If I'd been there a little longer, I would have ended up telling newcomers they should look feminine and keep themselves up to standards too."
After working at a beauty clinic for about six years, Ms. B abandoned her role and now works as an editor at a digital media company.
"At the time, I was at the top of my company on 'lookism,'" said Ms. B, referring to a term used to describe the phenomenon of discriminating against someone, based on their looks.
Lim Hyeon-ju shocked South Korea when she wore glasses during a newsreel.YouTube / The world
"I was leading the way with this 'lookism' and just perpetuating it," said Ms. B. "I switched jobs because I wanted to send out a message that would empower women; not to impose some uniform beauty standard."
"I still wonder if what I did was right," said Ms. B. "Now, through skincare, I am trying to help women feel comfortable in their own skin. If cultural norms change, I think that the rules of the workplace will also change."
Mrs. B's turn of attitude matches a shift among women in South Korea, where beauty standards are considered to be strict, by way of the "escape the corset movement" against social oppression drove women to ditch the makeup and cut their hair short.
Ms. B alluded to an incident last year where female news anchor Lim Hyeon-ju happened to be wearing glasses on television that became a significant moment for bucking beauty standards, saying: "It all started with a female news anchor who wore glasses during a newsreel."
Den Originalartikel gibt es auf Business Insider Japan. This story originally appeared on Business Insider Japan and has been translated from Japanese. Copyright 2019. Und ihr könnt Business Insider Japan auf Twitter folgen.
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