Abstract
The history of sexual harassment issue in Japan poses an interesting case for examining how gender equality develops in law and the society as a whole. The concept and words “sexual harassment” suddenly became well known when the first sexual harassment case went to court in Fukuoka and the term ‘sekuhara’ was coined in 1989. The prevention of sexual harassment was legalized in 1997 as a part of Equal Employment Opportunity Act, eight years after its problematization in 1989. It was remarkably speedy if compared to other gender related legal issues in Japan. The paper argues that the prompt legalization was brought not for the sake of women’s right but for conservative moral standard. Besides, sexual harassment issue was considered peripheral, not main labor issue for companies. In spite that the sexual harassment legalization made crucial step for women’s right, such trivialization of the problem caused insufficient outcome: the public understanding of the problem remains superficial, which causes suffering for the victims even if they might win in court. Intertwined with stark and stiff labor market structure in Japan, when a woman leaves job owing to sexual harassment, she would inevitably become irregular and unstable worker and move downward in labor market. The paper explores the relationship of law and society through the development of sexual harassment.
