"Japanese government must compensate transgender official not allowed in women's bathroom", 12 Dec 2019

The Japanese government has been ordered to pay compensation to a transgender official who was not allowed access to the women’s bathroom at work.

Tokyo district court awarded a payout of 1.32 million yen in damages to the government official and ruled that it was illegal for her superior to tell her to “become a man again”.

"The court also ordered the government to let the official use the women's bathroom freely, by removing the requirement that she notify female employees she is transgender," a court spokesman [said]...

The case is understood to be the first of its kind in Japan, involving damages being paid out over the work environment for transgender employees.

The official, who works at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, reportedly started working in women’s clothing in 2010, with the approval of her workplace.

However, some of her female colleagues requested that she use different toilets, meaning that she faced either visiting disabled toilets or restrooms for women located several floors away from her department...

The official filed a lawsuit in November 2015, with the government subsequently arguing that it had limited her access to the women’s bathroom because it “could not set aside concerns that she could harm female staff”.

...As many as 90 per cent of transgender job seekers have experienced problems with the highly-structured recruitment process in Japan, according to a survey published in May by the non-profit organisation ReBit, reflecting the deep rooted gender stereotypes that continue to prevail in many companies...