THE Japanese Consulate in Edinburgh has been hit with a hefty fine after losing an employment tribunal for discriminating against a woman during a job interview.

Members of the tribunal agreed that Chihiro Macdonald, who was born in Japan and lives with her husband Martin and their two young boys in Edinburgh, had been treated unfairly after bosses at the consulate probed her on childcare.

In an unusual ruling, the consulate was found guilty of sexual discrimination against a woman despite the four other candidates for the job also being women.

During the interview for the £20,000-a-year temporary cultural/ general information assistant, 36-year-old Macdonald was asked by Rumiko Ishigami, the Deputy Consul General, what she would do if one of her young sons was sick and she was expected to work at night.

She was also probed about whether she could afford childcare and nursery costs and asked if family lived nearby to help her with the children.

Despite Macdonald saying that her husband would look after the children, the interviewer kept on asking about their care, spending more than half the interview on the subject.

Ishigami then asked MacDonald who would look after her children if her husband was unable to do so, and told the interviewee to keep in mind that the office was a small one and every member of staff was required.

On a scoring sheet seen by the tribunal, Ishigami gave Macdonald a rating of three for “adaptability and flexibility”. For all other categories, including interest and knowledge and ability in Japanese and English, she scored four and five.

Macdonald had the highest marks out of all the candidates whose scoresheets were seen by the tribunal, though the consulate claimed the scores for the candidate who got the job could not be found.

In the aftermath of the interview Macdonald said she felt depressed and a failure.

In its judgment, the tribunal ruled that the consulate had treated Macdonald “less favourably on grounds of her sex by asking her a number of questions about her ability to cope with the job as a mother of young children in circumstances where we conclude that the interviewers would not have asked such questions of a hypothetical male comparator,” although they accepted that the person who got the job could conceivably have beendone so because they were “the best candidate for the position”.

The consulate was ordered to pay £2,000 and costs to Macdonald.

Macdonald told The National she was surprised to be discriminated against in this way during the Japanese Government’s “make women shine” campaign. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is desperate to see more women in higher positions in the Japanese workforce, and has said more women in the workforce can help save his country’s economy.

The consulate did not respond to requests for a comment.