Recently, Twitter saw a hashtag “specs are forbidden”( #メガネ禁止) trending on its platform for sometime. The hashtag trended after a program was aired on the Nippon TV network exploring how various employers have abandoned its women employees to to wear specs in Japan

Japanese women took to the micro blogging site to share their ordeals and raised their voices against the peculiar ban. In one of the posts, a woman working at the restaurant was asked not to wear specs because it seems rude to the customers and they did not go with their traditional kimono. 

Some more examples of this idiocy are that women working in beauty clinics and cosmetic shops are asked not to wear specs as they do not appeal to the customers. Adding some fuel to this fire, women working at the reception at local hotels were asked to not wear specs while men could get away with the rule. A domestic airline reportedly has the no-glasses rule for safety reasons.

The social media outrage came months after after the #KuToo movement began in the country. In this movement, women employees expressed their exasperation against the mandatory rule to wear heels to work. The movement against the regressive dress codes for women brought severe criticism to the country, which is otherwise considered as one of the most advanced country. 

It is still puzzling whether these rules belong to the company policies or socially accepted practices at the workplace. Japan is ranked 110th out of 149 countries in gender equality as reported by the World Economic Forum, 2018.

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