By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Apr 26 2002 (IPS)

Eiko Shirafuji, 53, was a hopeful high school graduate when she joined Sumitomo Electrical Co, one of Japan’s largest companies, more than three decades ago.

“I recall the time when I passed the company test and was selected to become a full-time worker. I thought this was my big chance to take on an exciting career,” she says.

But slowly, however, her dreams fell apart, as she saw her contemporaries climb up the corporate ladder while she stayed at the same job at the accounts department.

She says she was left behind because she was a woman in a corporate culture that heavily favours men, and was not given further training or opportunities.

Today, Shirafuji is fighting tooth and mail to force her company to pay 160 million yen (1.3 million U.S. dollars) in compensation for years of low wages, no promotion, and the lack of job training that tied her down to what she describes as a “useless future”.

“When I see my colleagues, who were selected with me, now holding top positions in the company, I cannot bear it,” she says. “My lawsuit is my only hope.”

Shirafuji’s lawsuit – dismissed by a judge in the Osaka District Court when it was first filed in 1995 and then brought on appeal to the Supreme Court – is watched with growing interest in Japan.

“Shirafuji’s case represents the deep-rooted discrimination against women workers,” says Mami Nakano, a lawyer well-versed in gender issues. “If she wins, it sends a positive message to every Japanese female worker who is struggling against male dominance in the job market.”

Women who take on big companies in lawsuits like Shirafuji’s is uncommon. Usually, accused companies get off the hook by saying they tried hard to promote equality.

Nakano points out the lawsuit has also taken on a wider meaning in a country that is facing a tumultuous working environment — corporate restructuring is ending life-time employment and has seen unemployment hitting a record 5.3 percent in January.

“Shirafuji’s case is more than sexual discrimination in the workplace,” explains Nakano, since she is challenging a system where women were left out of training and education opportunities, which leads to their being left behind in rank-and-file positions.

“The lawsuit carries repercussions for both the corporate world and Japanese employment,” she adds.

Japan has a two-track labour system, divided between general work and management level. So while Japanese women make up 49.6 percent of the work force, women workers on average up make up 91 percent of the general track sector.

According to a recent Labour Ministry survey of 215 companies, only 2.2 percent had women in the management track. Women also earn only 60 percent of the salaries of men.

Shirafuji has also taken her case beyond Japan. Last year, she along with five other female employees battling job discrimination, visited the United Nations and International Labour Office in Geneva, seeking international support and help for their case.

In August, the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva singled out the Japanese government as not doing enough to promote equal rights in the work place, following a petition by Shirafuji and five other colleagues citing discrimination by Sumitomo companies.

The U.N. report also warned against excessive working hours and underpaid overtime, expressing concern at the “de facto inequality between men and women in wages for work of equal value” in Japan.

Japan has signed the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, but ranked 41st out of 70 countries surveyed in 2000 on the international empowerment scale toward a gender-equal society, according the government.

In many ways, this situation reflects social norms in the country.

For instance, Shirafuji lost the first lawsuit in Osaka on the grounds that while wage discrepancy is unconstitutional, corporate practice is based on social harmony where the division of sexual roles– women are accountable for the family and men as bread winners – is accepted.

Nakano says this deep-rooted bias, coupled with the insecure labour situation, acts as a threat to women aspiring to develop careers.

“In order to cut personnel costs, more companies are hiring part-timers or contract workers. This only translates to less opportunity for women to enter managerial positions which will be reserved specially for a few elite men,” she explains.

Activists also point out that companies will keep firing women first, based on the assumption that they are less valuable to company and belong to the family. Still, women plaintiffs seem determined to keep up their fight.

In February, Nomura Securities was ordered to pay 425,000 dollars in damages to 12 women who were denied promotion because of sexual discrimination.

Earlier, in June, 20 female employees from Sumitomo Life Insurance Co were paid 90 million yen or 870,000 dollars in a suit that focused on the company’s policy to not promote married women.

Mistuko Miyajo, a lawyer representing Shirafuji, says female plaintiffs are now keen to turn to international treaties when domestic laws are of little or no use.

“International treaties are the products of experience and wisdom and are as important as our Constitution. We will bring attention to the U.N. report and use it in our court battle,” she says.

Meanwhile, Shirafuji continues to do her same job at the accounts department of Sumitomo Electrical Co and spends her spare time waging her legal battle against her employer.

“Funnily,” she says, “I do have support in the company despite what I am doing. Young staff and women encourage me telling me if I win, they too would be paid better, which only makes me fight harder.”

Excerpt: