Couple seeks justice over unfair job termination at Japanese university

(AFP): A couple who both worked at a Japanese university have sued the institution, a court said on Thursday, for reportedly allowing only the husband to keep an academic position after they were married.

Despite its highly educated female population, Japan is ranked 118th out of 146 in the 2024 World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report and women leaders remain rare in Japanese business and politics.

The husband, a law professor, informed the dean at Miyazaki Sangyo-keiei University in southern Japan when they married in July, the Asahi Shimbun and other local media outlets said Wednesday.

However, the dean "expressed discomfort and told him that the woman's job contract would be suspended at the end of March", the Asahi said, citing the unidentified couple's lawyer.

The university said there was an unwritten rule that two spouses should not work there because it was a small institution, public broadcaster NHK said.

Miyazaki District Court confirmed the lawsuit was filed against the university and the dean last month.

A spokesman for the university told AFP that there had been "a grave violation of the rules" by the couple but declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns.

The couple even chose to file for divorce in an attempt to keep their jobs in the university's law faculty, according to Japanese broadcaster UMK.

Even then the man was demoted to associate professor while the woman, an assistant professor, was made a clerical official, UMK reported.

"I felt I had been demanded to choose between marriage and career," the woman said in television footage that did not show her face.

"I'm very sad and quite indignant that the only university in this region that has a law faculty, and that touts recruitment of female students and their career support, can unfairly deprive a female teacher of her job and sense of fulfilment," she said.

The couple are seeking the reinstatement of their former positions.