September 1, 2024

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko on August 30 took part in a rally held in Tokyo to celebrate an epoch-making court decision which recognized indirect discrimination based on gender as illegal.

This ruling was issued in May by the Tokyo District Court in a lawsuit filed by a female non-career worker at a subsidiary of Japan’s major glass manufacturer, AGC Inc. for its discriminatory treatment of women. In the court battle, the plaintiff claimed that the company, AGC Green-Tech Co., Ltd., limited the use of its housing program, which pays for 80% of the rent, to only its career-track workers, who were all men. The court judged the company’s labor practice, which is disadvantageous to women workers, as indirect discrimination prohibited under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.

In the rally, lawyer Hirai Kota, member of the plaintiff’s legal team, said, “This court ruling opens the way for realizing gender equal workplaces.”

Tamura said that she introduced the landmark court judgement in her speech at the JCP foundation assembly. She pointed out, “Gender pay gap dies hard. The number of women in managerial positions is on a plateau. The factor lying behind this situation is indirect gender discrimination represented by a dual-track management system -- a fast track for management stream (career track) which is normally dominated by men and a slow path for routine, clerical work (non-career track). I’ll work hard to eliminate direct and indirect discrimination against women.”

> AGC subsidiary ordered to pay compensation for its discrimination against women [May 14, 2024]