“Hey idiot, hurry up and get married!”
Japan is up in
arms about insensitive and sexist remarks made by male members of The
Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly (the equivalent of a U.S. State Government
Assembly) toward a female representative during her presentation earlier
this week. She was speaking on issues of raising children in Japan.
Ayaka Shiomura,
a 36-year-old member of the opposition Your Party, called for the Tokyo
metropolitan government to support women who need assistance while
pregnant or raising children during a June 18 assembly session. She also
suggested that the government should help Japanese women who have
fertility issues to conceive children.
Japan is wrestling with a declining birth rate and growing elderly population. It has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world.
While
she was speaking, men in the section for the ruling Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) began jeering at her with lines like: “Hey you, should hurry
up and get married!” and “Can’t you have babies?”
Shiomura
continued to speak even though she had to choke back tears at one
point. After the session, Minoru Morozumi, the secretary-general of Your
Party’s assembly members, lodged a protest with his LDP counterpart,
Osamu Yoshiwara.
Osamu
Yoshiwara told the press that he wasn’t in a position to confirm
whether or not it was a member of his party who yelled out the comments,
but he asked assembly members to behave in a “in a dignified manner.”
It
should be noted that this isn’t the first time the leaders of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government have made sexist and inappropriate remarks;
it’s almost a tradition. LDP backed Shintaro Ishihara, who was governor
of Tokyo from April 1999 to October 2012, remarked circa 2001, “It’s a
waste and a crime for women who have lost their reproductive powers to
go on living.” (PDF) The current governor of Tokyo, Yoichi Masuzoe, also backed by the LDP, has said in the past such classics as “Women are not normal when they are on their period.
They are abnormal. You can’t possibly let them make critical decisions
about the country [during their periods], such as whether or not to go
to war.” He also has commented that women elected to office were “all a
bunch of old middle-aged hags.”
The
incident might have passed quietly but what began as a protest about
inappropriate behavior by Tokyo Assembly members quickly grew into a
roaring wave of resentment and anger from women all over Japan—and some
men as well.
A online petition, which calls for punishment of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members who hurled those sexist comments,
gathered more than 32, 000 signatures throughout Japan in under 24
hours. The petition was posted on Change.org, a website which provides a
platform for citizens to gather signatures and support for popular
causes. The number of signatures is expected to exceed in 60,000 in the
next day.
The jeers were also disturbing in that they seemed to echo the sentiments of the 10 Precepts for Marriage issued
by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 1939 during the period of
military rule in Japan. The guidelines concluded with the infamous
line: For the sake of the country, give birth and grow the population.
The
petition is the fastest-growing campaign ever placed on Change.org
Japan, according to Emmy Suzuki Harris, Campaigns Director for Japan at
Change.org.
Surprisingly the creator of the petition is a man. He corresponded with The Daily Beast on conditions of anonymity. He feels that the signatures are not enough.
“We
should know why something that the citizens cannot really forgive
happened. However, to see people in other regions showing the same anger
at what happened touched and reassured me.”
“These
sort of taunts fly around and there are assembly members who laugh in
an assembly where members who say ‘we’ll promote the social advancement
of women!’ or ‘we’ll work firmly toward providing child care support!’
gather,” Shun Otokita, a colleague of Shimomura’s wrote on his blog. “This is the reality of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in the capital of our country.”
The Mainichi Shimbun reported
that Yoshiwara said that he hadn’t heard the comments and suggested,
“Perhaps each assembly faction makes sure its members don’t make rude
comments.” The Daily Beast called the LDP faction for comments on the
incident, but our reporter was disconnected twice and then told to call
the public affairs office of the General Assembly.
Shiomura wrote on Twitter
“ I was debating about pregnancy, giving birth, and infertility when
the jeering began….As a woman there were very regrettable things said.
The heartless taunts made me teary-eyed. I will take taunts about my
policies, but I don’t think these are things you should say to women who
are suffering (over child raising issues).”
Japan is very far behind the rest of the developed world in terms of gender equality.
Japan was ranked 105th last year in the 2013 Global Gender Gap Report,
which ranks women’s equality in 136 countries. Under the Shinzo Abe
(LDP) administration, Japan’s ranking in press freedom has also fallen
to new lows.
On
Friday, the organizers of the petition when to the assembly's council
secretariat bearing a box filled with 42,580 signatures and 6,390
comments from supporters. The group demanded that the LDP punish the
person responsible for the remarks by June 25. If this is not done, "The
Tokyo branch of the LDP would be widely recognized at home and abroad
as a group that accepts discrimination against women," wrote the
petition's organizer on the Change.org webpage.
Prime
Minister Abe, the most powerful person in the LDP, who has made anemic
but sincere proclamations to promote gender equality may find himself in
a position where he has to support an opposition party member and slap
down his own rank and file.
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