Married women strike blow in sex discrimination suit.

Women subjected to gross sexual harassment because they refused to stop working after marriage were awarded 90 million yen in compensation from Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. in a landmark Osaka court ruling late Wednesday.

Yasuko Watanabe and her 19 fellow plaintiffs were delighted their sexual discrimination suit against the life insurance giant was recognized, though less happy when the Osaka District Court ruled that the now defunct Ministry of Labor was right to refuse to mediate their case and that Sumitomo Life was not obligated to promote them.

"For a company to reduce the amount of work and lower the quality expected of an employee simply because she is …