No specific measures have been taken for sexual and gender minorities at half of their workplaces in Japan, even after the June 2023 enforcement of a law to promote public understanding, a survey has shown.
According to the survey covering some 2,000 LGBTQ+ people over three years to 2024, 54.9% of respondents said in the final year that their workplaces did not have any specific measures for sexual and gender minorities.
Still, the figure slightly improved from 57.2% in 2022 and 60.4% in 2023, according to the survey, conducted by Nijiiro Diversity, a nonprofit organization working for sexual and gender minorities.
The share of respondents who came out at work changed little for transgender people, standing at 56.4% in 2022, 53.3% in 2023 and 54.3% in 2024.
For other sexual and gender minorities, the share stood at 39.9% in 2024, down from 42.8% in 2022 and 45.8% in 2023.
The percentage of transgender people who saw or heard someone at school or work talking negatively about living as a person who changed their assigned sex rose over the period, from 37.4% in 2022 to 43.4% in 2023 to 47.4% in 2024.
Maki Muraki, director of Nijiiro Diversity, said that not many companies have taken measures for sexual and gender minorities in Japan because the law¡¯s binding power is weak.
¡°It¡¯s necessary to secure places where such individuals can feel secure as well as a consultation system, given that discrimination against those people is on the rise,¡± Muraki said.
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