The Act on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment governs equal opportunity and treatment between men and women in employment and measures connected with pregnancy, childbirth, and workplace harassment. Employers, HR teams, workers, and researchers consult it when checking statutory duties on recruitment, assignment, promotion, dismissal, harassment-prevention systems, and dispute-resolution routes. This article covers selected core provisions of the Act and does not cover childcare leave, labor contract litigation, or workplace policy drafting for a specific employer.

Purpose, Basic Ideas, and Policy

The Act begins with a constitutional equality frame and then assigns policy duties to government and employers. Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 explain the statute's purpose before the individual employer duties begin.

Article 1 states that the Act aims, in accordance with the principle of equality under the Constitution of Japan, to secure equal opportunity and treatment between men and women in employment and to promote measures for securing the health of female Workers during pregnancy and after childbirth. Article 2 states the basic idea that Workers should not be discriminated against because of sex and that female Workers should be able to lead fulfilling working lives while maternity is respected.

Article 3 requires the national government and Local Governments to conduct necessary awareness-raising activities to deepen public interest and understanding concerning equal opportunity and treatment between men and women in employment and to remove factors that hinder that equality. Article 4 requires the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare to formulate the Basic Policy on Equal Employment Opportunity for Men and Women, after hearing the Labour Policy Council and seeking opinions from prefectural governors, and to publish its outline.

These opening provisions do not themselves resolve an individual dispute. They show that later employer duties are part of a statutory scheme combining anti-discrimination rules, maternity-health measures, workplace management measures, and administrative dispute assistance.

The Act's direct employer prohibitions are in Articles 5 through 10. They cover recruitment, hiring, personnel treatment, indirect discrimination, positive measures, and treatment connected with marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and maternity leave.

Article 5 requires Employers to give equal opportunity to Workers in recruitment and hiring regardless of sex. Article 6 prohibits discriminatory treatment by reason of sex for listed matters, including assignment, allocation of work and authority, promotion, demotion, education and training, welfare benefits prescribed by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order, change of job type or employment status, encouragement of retirement, mandatory retirement age, dismissal, and renewal of labor contracts.

Article 7 restricts measures that use requirements other than sex if, considering the ratio of men and women satisfying the requirement and other circumstances, the measure may substantially become discrimination by reason of sex as prescribed by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order. Such a measure may be taken only where there is a reasonable ground, such as special necessity for performing the work or special necessity for employment management. Article 8 states that Articles 5 through 7 do not prevent measures concerning female Workers taken to improve circumstances that hinder equal opportunity and treatment.

Article 9 prohibits an Employer from setting a rule that marriage, pregnancy, or childbirth of a female Worker is a reason for retirement. It also prohibits dismissal because a female Worker married, and prohibits dismissal or other disadvantageous treatment because of pregnancy, childbirth, maternity leave under Article 65 of the Labor Standards Act, or other pregnancy or childbirth-related reasons prescribed by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order. Article 9(4) makes dismissal of a woman during pregnancy or within one year after childbirth invalid unless the Employer proves that the dismissal is not based on the reasons stated in Article 9(3). Article 10 requires the Minister to establish guidelines for appropriate employer handling of matters in Articles 5 through 7 and Article 9.

Harassment and Maternity Health Measures

The Act also imposes workplace-management duties that are not framed only as direct discrimination prohibitions. Articles 11, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4, 12, 13, 13-2, and 14 are the main provisions for harassment measures, health-management measures, internal assignment of responsibility, and national assistance.

Article 11 requires Employers to take necessary employment-management measures so that Workers do not suffer disadvantage in working conditions because of their response to sexual words or actions in the workplace, and so that their working environment is not harmed by those words or actions. The same article prohibits dismissal or other disadvantageous treatment because a Worker sought consultation or cooperated with the Employer's handling of that consultation by stating facts.

Article 11-2 assigns duties to the national government, Employers, officers, and Workers to deepen understanding and pay necessary attention regarding problems caused by sexual words and actions. Article 11-3 requires Employers to take necessary employment-management measures so that the working environment of female Workers is not harmed by words or actions concerning pregnancy, childbirth, maternity leave, or other pregnancy or childbirth-related reasons. Article 11-4 contains parallel awareness and cooperation duties for pregnancy and childbirth-related workplace problems.

Article 12 requires Employers to secure necessary time for female Workers to receive health guidance or health examinations under the Maternal and Child Health Act. Article 13 requires Employers to take necessary measures, such as changing working hours or reducing work, so that female Workers can follow guidance based on that health guidance or examination. Article 13-2 requires Employers to endeavor to appoint a person responsible for appropriate and effective implementation of measures under Article 8, Article 11, Article 11-3, Article 12, Article 13, and related equal-opportunity measures. Article 14 allows the national government to provide consultation and other assistance to Employers that take or plan measures to improve circumstances hindering equal opportunity and treatment.

Dispute Assistance and Mediation

Chapter III creates administrative routes for disputes covered by the Act. Articles 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, and 27 explain how voluntary resolution, assistance, and mediation are connected.

Article 15 requires Employers, when receiving complaints from Workers concerning matters in Article 6, Article 7, Article 9, Article 12, or Article 13(1), excluding recruitment and hiring, to endeavor to resolve them voluntarily, including by entrusting handling to a complaint-processing body composed of employer and worker representatives. Article 16 provides that disputes concerning Articles 5 through 7, Article 9, Article 11(1) and (2), Article 11-3(1), Article 12, and Article 13(1) are handled under the Act's special dispute provisions rather than specified provisions of the Act on Promoting the Resolution of Individual Labor-Related Disputes.

Article 17 authorizes the Prefectural Labour Bureau Director, when requested by both or one of the parties to a covered dispute, to give necessary advice, guidance, or recommendations. Article 17(2) applies the Article 11(2) anti-retaliation rule when a Worker seeks that assistance. Article 18 authorizes the Prefectural Labour Bureau Director to refer a covered dispute to mediation by the Dispute Coordinating Committee if necessary.

Article 19 again prohibits dismissal or other disadvantageous treatment because a Worker applied for mediation. Article 20 states that mediation is conducted by three mediation members designated by the chairperson of the Dispute Coordinating Committee from among committee members. Article 23 allows mediation members to hear opinions from persons concerned or request reports, and Article 24 allows preparation of a mediation proposal. Article 27 provides confidentiality duties for mediation members and former mediation members.

Administrative Guidance, Publication, and Reports

The Act gives the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare and labour bureaus tools to secure compliance outside individual mediation. Articles 29, 30, 31, and 33 are the key enforcement and delegation provisions.

Article 29 authorizes the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare to request reports and give advice, guidance, or recommendations to Employers when necessary to enforce the Act. Article 30 allows the Minister to publish the name of an Employer that violates provisions concerning Articles 5 through 7, Article 9(1) through (3), Article 11(1) and (2), Article 11-3(1), Article 12, or Article 13(1), if the Employer does not comply with a recommendation under Article 29.

Article 31 allows the Minister's authority under Article 29 and Article 30 to be delegated to Prefectural Labour Bureau Directors under Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order. Article 33 sets a non-criminal fine for a person who fails to report or makes a false report under Article 29. The Act therefore relies heavily on administrative guidance, publication, dispute assistance, and mediation, rather than only on ordinary civil litigation.