The question of sexual harassment -- "seku hara" -- has, after years of neglect, become one of the hottest media topics. Not that suddenly men are beginning to harass women. It is that women are making accusations while before many tended to view it as inevitable, something that went along with employment or riding on public transportation. Until recently, no governor would be forced to resign over his carelessness in where he put his hand -- no woman would report it -- nor would we read about the doctor who, wearing women's clothes, entered a ladies' dressing room. His explanation won him no leniency. He said he had only gone in to put on makeup. Credit for the change is with the women who have defied tradition to speak out and many men must be facing sleepless nights as they wonder when they might face charges for past indiscretions.
It is not surprising that this topic comes up in English conversation classes. A teacher was not aware of the law until her students asked about it and she wonders where she can get a copy in English.
The translation may become a best seller. The law, entitled Law on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment Between Men and Women in Employment, covers such things as prohibition of discrimination against women workers, provision for an equal opportunity mediation commission and general measures for consideration when women are employed. The basic principle is that "women workers be enabled to engage in a full working life, with due respect for their maternity but without discrimination based on sex." Chapter three stipulates that employers should see that women do not suffer disadvantages because of their responses to sexual speech and behavior in the workplace.