An essential watch: Baroness Burt of Solihull reviews “Black Box Diaries”
2 min read
I have never seen a film like Black Box Diaries; self-made and self-filmed by a young Japanese journalist called Shiori Ito who is determined to bring her rapist - a powerful man and prospective employer - to justice.
Through witnessing Shiori’s journey of healing and fight for accountability, we learn that modern day Japan embodies much the same double standards and patriarchal values of mid 20th Century Britain - and some would say persisting even today.
Shiori is a first class journalist. She refuses to be a victim, and in pushing for truth to come out in her case becomes instead a fiercely powerful advocate and unintentional leader. Her bravery ignites a mass movement of Japanese women who refuse to be cowed any longer by those holding the reins of power, and who instead start to stand up and demand change.
Sexual harassment is still common in Britain today, particularly in the hospitality sector. While there is much more that can and needs to be done to address this, one positive step is The Worker Protection Act that Wera Hobhouse MP and I took through Parliament.
The law could have been stronger - unfortunately we met with opposition from certain groups along the way. We must continue to fight to ensure there is a responsibility on employers to protect their workers from sexual and third-party harassment. It was most welcome to see the original wording of the Worker Protection Act in the government's new Employment Rights Bill.
If implemented and enforced properly, it will give women extra security at work, and ensure that incident reports of sexual harassment or violence are not ignored or silenced.
Japan’s laws on sexual violence were updated as a result of Shiori’s case, vitally increasing legal protection for women. Her story and this film inspire all of us to advance accountability for perpetrators of sexual violence. The Worker Protection Act enters into force on October 26th, 2024 - just as Black Box Diaries comes out in UK cinemas - and marks a key step in the right direction for the protection against workplace harassment in the United Kingdom.
Black Box Diaries is a powerful watch. You may need tissues to hand.
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