Women's organization demands resignation of 'anti-women' LDP members

The Violence against Women in War-Network Japan (VAWW-NET Japan) on July 8 issued a statement demanding the resignation of three Liberal Democratic Party politicians as well as an official apology for their anti-women remarks.

In protest against House of Representatives member Ota Seiichi, who had glossed over recent gang rapes by college students by saying rapists are "virile" and "close to normal", the statement said that Ota lacks the basic understanding that rape is a serious crime in violation of human rights.

Referring to Ota's comment, Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda Yasuo had made an off-the-record remark that some women are inviting rape by dressing provocatively. VAWW-NET Japan's statement stressed that Fukuda does not qualify as a minister in charge of gender equality.

The statement also criticized former Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro for commenting against women who do not have any children, by saying that Mori only values women's physical ability to reproduce and that his remark is connected with the idea of the prewar era that women must give birth to many children.

VAWW-NET Japan stated that Japan's failure to sincerely reflect on the "comfort women" issue, the worst form of violence against women by Japanese military forces before and during WWII, causes those politicians' attitudes to condone violence against women.

VAWW-NET Japan is the organization sponsoring the "Women's International War Crime Tribunal" which has exposed sexual violence committed by the Japanese Imperial Army. (end)