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What is the indication of gender in resumes for?

In Japan, the use of gender in decision making of employment is prohibited by the Law for Equal Employment Opportunity of Men and Women. Why does the Japanese format of resumes require gender information, even though there is no rational reason to ask gender?

Transgender people, whose legal gender differs from the gender expressed in their daily life, are forced to come out due to this gender indication and rejected after a job interview. A survey shows that about 90 percent of transgender people experienced difficulties during their job search. If you mention the gender which you express in daily life, however, your once-promised job offer can be retracted because you are a “liar.”

Though such a retract cannot be justified, the victim often has no choice but to put up with it. The circulation of their personal information, which tells that they are sexual minorities, often leads a virtual Outing (a disclosure of the fact that they are sexual minorities).

Several movements have begun throughout the country to remove such gender indications in resumes for selection processes such as examinations to employ public servants or entrance examinations of high schools. Many other countries prohibit asking gender in resumes to prevent gender discrimination.

However, the gender indication remains in the resumes of JIS format broadly used in Japan. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry have hardly worked on this issue.

It is time to eliminate the gender indication that exists as if for granted in resumes all over Japan.