#ShukatsuSexism case studies - How it’s like in Japan and Why it’s a huge problem

Hi, I'm one of the members of #ShukatsuSexism ( #就活セクシズム )petition campaign. Shukatsu is an abbreviation in Japanese and it means job-hunting especially for students. We’ve already introduced some major cases of #ShukatsuSexism (sexism at job hunting manners) here, but I decided to explain what's happening in this Shukatsu industry in Japan and why it's a huge problem by introducing to you some actual cases of Shukatsu manners instructions in this article.

Before I start, I'm non-binary (if I were to label myself), I was assigned a female body when I was born. I don't like living with this body type but I don't hate it at the same time. However, I've been feeling super uncomfortable being called "girl" "woman", often with lots of bias, since little. I'm okay with having she/her used as my pronoun, but at the same time, I can't say "Watashi", which is the first person often used by women, and since we don't have COMPLETE neutral first person in Japanese (I think), I always go without them or use the word "Jibun".

Here are some details of #ShukatsuSexism issue.


Gender binary theory
If I were to label myself I would say I’m near non-binary as I said, but people like me are invisible in this job-hunting industry.

Shukatsu manners instruction is always divided up into "for men"- "for women", and we can hardly find exceptions (except for a few companies specifically aiming at minorities). Their flyers and signs are even often colored blue (for men) & pink (for women). I know it's hard to change everything at once, but I think I could hope they mention other gendered people at least.

It’s been a while since I started to see words like “diversity & inclusion” “LGBT+” a lot, in our daily lives in Japan, but I guess not in this industry.
It’s either they don’t know the fact, or they’re intentionally ignoring the fact - we have no idea.

Women must wear pantyhose matching your skin color
Some instructions clearly BAN women to wear

- pantyhose that don't match your skin color
- stockings or tights (I mean the ones thicker than pantyhose)
- socks

This article says it doesn't matter if it's during cold winter, or if one's wearing pants. Also it says the interviewers will FIND OUT IF YOU'RE WEARING PANTYHOSE OR NOT EVEN WHEN YOU'RE WEARING PANTS.

https://shukatsu-mirai.com/archives/104166#i-1

Apart from the website above, the most common reasonings are:

- because it's "proper manners" to wear pantyhose matching your skin color
- because you make people think about funerals if you wear black pantyhose (or stockings) with black suits (strangely, they don't blame "all-black-suits" norm)
- because black pantyhose make women look too grown-up (what!?)

https://www.aoki-style.com/feature/recruit/magazine/pc/style/s_02/

https://www.aoki-style.com/feature/recruit/magazine/pc/manner/m_02/

According to this instruction, men should look like grown up men, but women shouldn’t wear black pantyhose because it makes them look grown-ups.

......hmm.

It’s rude for women not to put on makeup
They say if you're a "woman" (including "if you're considered a woman by other people"), you should put on makeup because:

- It's "manners" for women to put on makeup at business
- Interviewers might think you're not interested in the job if you don't put on makeup
- You should look healthy (then why don't you tell that to men as well?)

The book above tells women not to go to interviews without makeup because it's "manners" for business people to put on makeup.
"要点マスター！面接&エントリーシート", Saiki, 2020 p.62
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4839972613/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_TCj-FbE823XR0

As usual, the identities of people that are considered "women" are not considered. What's worse is that some instructions say:

- You should put on makeup even if you have sensitive skin
- You should start practicing makeup if you haven't done that before.

https://happylifestyle.com/15150
This articles says that if you have sensitive skin and choose not to put on makeup, interviewers will be SURPRISED to see your face that looks too natural (I couldn't find the direct translation) and think you don't have COMMON SENSE to put on makeup.


Please, STOP.

Women should look beautiful
Strangely lots of instructions emphasize that it's good for women to show their "curvy body line that's unique to women" while they never mention "body line that's unique to men".

Of course we think it's okay for them to say "this specific suit model is made to emphasize your body line" but it's not limited to one specific model. We see them EVERYWHERE.

One instruction even says:

https://www.aoki-style.com/feature/recruit/magazine/pc/style/s_03/
- You might feel embarrassed to show your body line, but you should choose jackets that fit with your curves. Otherwise you look sloppy.
- Also you should button up your jacket because then you could emphasize your curvy body line that's unique to women.



Men=black short hair?
Some instructions tell men to have black short hair. I guess there are people who naturally have non-black hair... (I personally think it's related to this "ideal strong Japanese men" image)

I’m curious about how they’ve got the guts to publish these instructions in this 21st century.

As you all know, we have strong peer pressure in Japan, and it's very hard for students to break this curse because

- they're at the least powerful position in this structure
- they're surrounded by instructions published by Shukatsu related companies and even educational institutes they belong to
- Lots of educational institutes sell Shukatsu instruction books at their own bookstores, put out flyers and pamphlets, hand out their original Shukatsu handbooks, and hold Shukatsu manner seminars and encourage students to participate.
- There's a strong pressure that students should start working right after their graduation, and lots of them are made to feel they're a "failure" if they can't do so.

It's obvious that these "manners" I introduced in this articles include lots of sexism, but the environment like above makes the situation worse.