This May 30, 2016 photo, shows high heeled shoes on display at a department store in Tokyo. (TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP)

Women can’t be forced to suffer impractical dress codes, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in response to a question about a social movement to end practices requiring female workers to wear high heels.

Last year, actor and writer Yumi Ishikawa sparked the #KuToo movement criticizing rules that require women to wear high heels to work

It is difficult however for the government to make a decision involving private company rules on the issue, and the matter needs more discussion with the involved parties, he said.

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Last year, actor and writer Yumi Ishikawa sparked the #KuToo movement criticizing rules that require women to wear high heels to work. The hashtag plays on the Japanese words for shoe, or kutsu, and pain, kutsuu.