Respect for Pregnancy

Not a strategy to deal with depopulation, the Supreme Court of Japan sentenced that demotion in business office due to pregnancy was illegal and invalid on Thursday. It must be amazing that such kind of fundamental inequality still remains in this self-declared developed country. However, lower courts have been dismissing appeal of a woman. Businesswomen realize new era of gender equality.

A physical therapist working in a hospital in Hiroshima city told her pregnancy of the second child to the officer and requested moving to lighter work. The hospital accepted it and moved her to another job, but stripped her position of deputy chief, causing lower salary. She indicted the hospital demanding compensation of ¥1.7 million and retired. “The demotion violated Equal Employment Opportunity Law that prohibits disadvantage based on pregnancy,” appealed the woman.

The Supreme Court recognized that it was clear that the demotion was disadvantage for the woman, while it was not clear whether the change of job lightened the burden of her. While the hospital asserted that she consented the demotion, the court dismissed rational reason of existence of agreement based on free will between the plaintiff and defendant. The Court concluded the decisions of lower courts were illegal and got the appeal back to them.

The decision is regarded as a solution on maternity harassment, which has been prevailing in every business office. The harassment includes proposing importance of taking care of children without any malice, being jealous of taking holidays, forcing long-time work before and after bearing child and demanding retirement with reason of maternity. The number of consultation about maternity harassment amounted to over three thousand last year.

The plaintiff released a comment of encouraging other businesswomen. “I hope working woman to carry on her job with comfortable environment of being pregnant, raising kids and feeing rewarded,” told the woman. Her delightedness revealed how much businesswomen had suffered from disadvantage because of their sex.

As economic animal, the Japanese businessmen had been competing how they could work hard in the post-war high growth era. But with prevalence of a concept called pursuit of happiness, they reduced their working time, partly causing degraded growth resent decades. In need of maintaining its status of one of the biggest economy in the world, the Japanese government is involved in taking advantage of labor force of women. The decision of the Supreme Court can be regarded as reflection of current requirement in politics.