中文導讀
石川優實切身感受到工作時被公司強制要求穿上高跟鞋的痛苦，發起了一場名為「#KuToo」的運動，並向日本厚生勞動省提交了請願書，呼籲日本政府禁止僱傭者強迫女性穿高跟鞋。這在職業著裝規定嚴格的日本引起熱議。
Japanese women rebel against painful dress codes at workISHIKAWA YUMI worked eight-hour shifts as an usher in a funeral parlour, always in heels. Her employer insisted. Her toes bled. 「Why do we have to hurt our feet at work, when men can wear flat shoes?」 she complained on Twitter. The tweet exploded.Encouraged, she gathered 18,800 signatures on a petition calling for a ban on employers requiring women to wear high heels, which she submitted to the government last June. Ms Ishikawa became the face of the #KuToo campaign—a pun on Japanese words for shoes (kutsu) and pain (kutsuu), with a nod to the #MeToo movement.
More than 60% of Japanese women with jobs have been forced to squeeze their feet into heels at work or have witnessed colleagues having to, according to a survey. Female staff at Takashimaya, a department store, must parade around the shop in 5cm heels. The former defence minister, Inada Tomomi, felt obliged to totter about in heels even on the deck of a visiting American aircraft carrier.
Dress codes at many Japanese firms are rigid. Some ban glasses for women (but not men), on the grounds that they are unflattering. This is especially unreasonable for those who find contact lenses uncomfortable. 「Women have always been told to follow the dress code, even if it causes pain,」 says Ms Ishikawa. Japanese bosses, who tend to be older men, often expect their female underlings to gaman (endure it).
The government has dug in its heels. A former labour minister, who received Ms Ishikawa’s petition last year, insists that wearing high heels at work is 「necessary and appropriate」. The petition itself has received no official response to date. Japan ranks the second lowest out of the 29 rich countries in The Economist’s glass-ceiling index, which measures equality for women in the workplace.
But corporate Japan is slowly responding to #KuToo. In late March Japan Airlines announced that its female flight attendants can kick off their heels and swap skirts for trousers if they choose. All three big mobile-phone operators have relaxed their rules on heels. Ms Ishikawa is collaborating with a shoe company to produce chic heel-less shoes. 「Society is changing,」 says Ms Ishikawa. 「We can’t be ignored.」 Pointless rules about footwear may soon be given the boot.
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April 11th 2020 | Asia | 390 words
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短語 be given the boot 為一習語，也可寫為 get the boot，表示「被解僱；被拋棄；（和某人的關係）被解除」，牛津英文釋義為to be told that you must leave your job or that a relationship you are having with sb is over，看一個例句：She was a disruptive influence, and after a year or two she was given the boot. 她是個搗亂分子，一兩年後就被解僱了。文章這裡就在說：有關鞋類的毫無意義的規定可能很快就會被廢除。
(查看本文更多講解，歡迎掃下方二維碼報名經濟學人閱讀訓練營，詞彙量過八千方可參加，詞彙量低於八千請移步☞詞彙訓練營)
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本文全文摘選自The Economist(11th Apr 2020)，僅供個人學習交流使用。歡迎轉發至朋友圈。
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