TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A couple who both worked at a Japanese university have sued the institution, a court said on Thursday, for reportedly allowing only the husband to keep an academic position after they were married.

Despite its highly educated female population, Japan is ranked 118th out of 146 in the 2024 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report and women leaders remain rare in Japanese business and politics.

The husband, a law professor, informed the dean at Miyazaki Sangyo-keiei University in southern Japan when they married in July, the Asahi Shimbun and other local media outlets said Wednesday.

However, the dean “expressed discomfort and told him that the woman’s job contract would be suspended at the end of March,” the Asahi said, citing the unidentified couple’s lawyer.

The university said there was an unwritten rule that two spouses should not work there because it was a small institution, public broadcaster.