Director’s message
Many working women who are pregnant, have just given birth, or are raising young children experience workplace harassment. This is maternity harassment, or what is called Matahara.
Matahara is not just the problem of mothers and pregnant women.
The root cause is a long-standing prejudice that men should go out and work, while women must stay home, do housework, and raise the children.
There is a strong bias that these women must work overtime.
For these reasons, women suffer harassment when taking days off to care of their children.
This is a problem of our society not recognizing different ways of working and diverse value systems.
In other words, solving this problem presents the possibility to improve all aspects of the ways people can work.
Thinking about Matahara is thinking about ways of working.
We will contribute to the realization of a society without Matahara and a society where diverse work styles and ideas are welcome.
This is our mission at Matahara Net.
Director’s introduction
NPO Corporation Matahara Net
Representative Director
Hiroko Miyashita
In 2002, before the word “Matahara” was coined, Miyashita was dismissed from her company due to being pregnant. After requesting reinstatement and batting over it in court, she won a settlement with the company, with the conditions that they would “Respect the intentions of expectant and nursing mothers to continue working, and to strive to maintain an improved working environment for them do do so easily”. She is a pioneer in the movement to eradicate “Matahara” and workplace harassment against women.
Hiroko Miyashita joined the management of Matahara Net in October 2014, and became the Representative Director in November 2016. As a mother of four, she spends her time raising her children, performing restaurant work duties, and supporting her local community, in addition to vigorously and energetically managing Matahara Net.
This is translated by Mariano Sorgente
