Women Warriors: Sayaka Osakabe
A Woman Warrior: Sayaka Osakabe
(5) Sayaka Osakabe is a prominent Japanese women's rights activist. Over the years Syaka has fought for women's equality in the workplace. Her main focus on women's rights issues was maternity and harassment in the workplace after childbirth. Sayaka's battle for women's rights started in 2013-2014. Working as a contracted magazine editor, Osakbe faced serious backlash from her boss when she fell pregnant. This workplace harassment was the first of other scenarios where her boss faulted her for being a mother. The harassment then spurred Osakbe on to fight for more maternity rights on a governmental level. (1)
 |
| (7) |
Her Fight
Osakabe's fight first started when she returned to her workplace after her first miscarriage. When Osakabe asked her boss for a lighter workload, to which her boss responded by asking her to put off,
"babymaking" for two to three years. Similar instances happened years later. One example of this is during Osakabe's second pregnancy, she was pressured by her boss to either return to work from bed or just resign from her position. This pressure eventually caused her to have a second miscarriage. (2) Outraged and wanting to change, Osakabe quit her job and pursued a labor case. (1)
"babymaking" for two to three years. Similar instances happened years later. One example of this is during Osakabe's second pregnancy, she was pressured by her boss to either return to work from bed or just resign from her position. This pressure eventually caused her to have a second miscarriage. (2) Outraged and wanting to change, Osakabe quit her job and pursued a labor case. (1)
This case became very important in Japanese gender policies. Osakabe's case was actually the first case in Japan that covered maternity harassment in the supreme court. Through the years, Japan has slowly created laws that have promoted equal gender opportunity. Although these equal opportunity laws cover attending university and other pursuits, they did not cover equal footing in the workplace. This was until news of Obsakake's case. Word spread of her fight and support from around the country and the world. Then, when Obsakake won her case, a new law was created. This law guarantees that women in Japan have the right to seek less demanding roles during pregnancy and 14 weeks of maternity leave for either parent until the first birthday of the child.
Her Work and Accomplishments
After winning her case Sayaka Osakabe continued to advocate for gender workplace equality. She created the word Matahara. It is a combination of the words maternity harassment. This became a slogan and buzzword for pregnancy discrimination. She then went on to create Matahara.net. This is a
website that is designated to help other women who face pregnancy/maternity discrimination. Then in 2015, Osakabe was named one of the 10 Extraordinary Women from 10 Countries by the Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award. The award was given by then-First Lady Michelle Obama. (3)
website that is designated to help other women who face pregnancy/maternity discrimination. Then in 2015, Osakabe was named one of the 10 Extraordinary Women from 10 Countries by the Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award. The award was given by then-First Lady Michelle Obama. (3)
 |
| (6) |
Why her work is important?
There are still big gender equity issues throughout the world. In a study back in 2015 it was found that Japan ranked 121st in women's rights. (2) Being able to have the same opportunities and still wanting to have a family is a right that every woman should have. Osakabe's fight to give women more opportunities with less harassment is highly important in women's rights issues. There is still a need to fight for women's equality all around the world. Whether it be through general workplace equity or maturity equality, this work, and her work are important.
 |
| (5) |
Sources
Thanks for sharing Osakabe and her work! I had never heard of her and she's definitely fighting for justice. Creating a website to document and identify harassment is such a powerful tool and I hope it's helping women fight for equality as she intended. It's great that she's received awards for her activism since she's doing such awesome work!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad I got to be exposed to Sayaka Osakabe and her story. I think fighting for justice for women’s equality in the workplace is extremely important and oftentimes gets ignored. Osakabe seems like a really powerful, independent woman that has made a lot of progress in women's rights. Her work and accomplishments are extremely impressive and I think her name needs to be more well known. Overall, I think this blog was done very well and I am so glad I got to learn about this individual.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Sayaka Osakabe before reading your article. I'm glad I know now. The culture when it comes to the workplace in Japan is a very foreign topic to me. I could never imagine something happening to me like what happened to Sayaka. Its interesting how many men believe the women's job is to make babies, and then shame them when they do.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read about Osakabe. It's great that she stood up for herself in this scenario - it's scary and difficult for many people to report workplace abuses of power when they happen. I'm surprised to see how workplace rights for women has progressed at a seemingly slower rate in Japan. In countries that are obsessed with performance and productivity, it makes less sense that women should be held back from contributing to the workplace based on their need for maternity leave. How else will we create future workers to be exploited by the bosses of the future? I'm only partially joking. Thanks for telling us her story!
ReplyDelete