Japanese women kick off a campaign against high heels in the workplace

Yumi Ishikawa. Photo / Getty Images

A group of Japanese women are protesting against an unofficial workplace rule.

They submitted a petition to the Government on a de-facto requirement for female staff to wear high heels at work, AFP reports.

Actress and freelance writer Yumi Ishikawa launched the #KuToo campaign. It has won support from nearly 19,000 people online.

#KuToo is a play on words from "kutsu" (shoes) and "kutsuu" (pain).

Campaigners say wearing high heels is seen as near-obligatory when job hunting or working at many Japanese companies, AFP reports.

"Today we submitted a petition calling for the introduction of laws banning employers from forcing women to wear heels as sexual discrimination or harassment," Ishikawa told reporters after meeting officials at the Ministry of Labour.