Photo/Illutration A transgender employee of the economy ministry sits in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on Sept. 20, 2024. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The economy ministry has lifted its restrictive bathroom policy for a transgender employee in her 50s, telling her on Nov. 8 that she can now use all the women’s restrooms in the ministry’s building.

Until now, the employee had been told that she could only use one women’s restroom more than two floors from her office.

Although the Tokyo High Court ruled in 2015 that the National Personnel Authority’s bathroom restrictions for transgender employees were acceptable, the Supreme Court later overturned that ruling in July 2023.

The Supreme Court said that these restrictions were illegal, at least as of 2015.

However, the ministry didn’t change its bathroom policy for another year and four months after the Supreme Court’s ruling. The economy ministry stated that it was upholding the bathroom ban while it trained employees about understanding sexual minorities.

The National Personnel Authority, which oversees national civil servant personnel, revised its policy on Oct. 29 to now allow transgender employees to access the bathrooms.

At that time, the National Personnel Authority rebuked the economy ministry’s reasons for continuing the ban, stating “that is not acceptable as a valid reason to disadvantage the employee,” and that it is “unfair.”

The decision concluded that the economy ministry should allow the employee to “freely use women’s bathrooms.”

Since childhood, the employee had never felt comfortable living as a male.

So, around 1998, after she started working for the ministry, the employee began her gender transition, which includes taking hormone therapy.

She has been working as a woman since 2010.

“I don’t understand why it took so long to lift the ban. It is obvious that the ministry had to lift the ban, and I don’t even feel happy about it any longer,” the employee said.

“There are so many private companies that allow transgender employees to use the bathroom freely, but the economy ministry consistently resorted to unreasonable treatment,” she said.

Maki Muraki, chairperson of the nonprofit organization Nijiiro Diversity, which gives lectures on sexual minorities to companies, said the economy ministry should take the lead in establishing a comfortable work environment for transgender employees and be a role model for private companies.

“Transgender people often struggle to get hired and can end up either stuck as non-regular workers or being unable to work at all, leading to financial instability,” Muraki said. 

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