July 1 and 2, 2015
A lawmaker, who left the Liberal Democratic Party members’ group of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly a year ago due to criticism for his sexist jeering, on June 30 returned to his old fold.
In June last year, at a plenary meeting of the metropolitan assembly, the lawmaker, Suzuki Akihiro, heckled a female colleague who was a member of the dissolved Your Party while she was discussing measures to tackle the declining birth rate, by saying, “You’d better get married soon.” This provoked fierce criticism from both inside and outside the assembly.
Five days later, assuming responsibility for his remark, Suzuki suggested leaving the LDP assembly group while maintaining his LDP membership and the Tokyo LDP accepted his suggestion. Demanding Suzuki’s resignation as an assembly member, the Japanese Communist Party Metropolitan Assembly Members’ group submitted to the assembly a draft resolution to this effect, but it was voted down with opposition from the LDP and Komei Party.
On the day Suzuki was re-admitted to the LDP group, the JCP assembly members’ group issued a statement. The statement states that one year has passed since the sexist jeering, and Suzuki and the LDP neither reflected on the discriminatory remark nor took action to avoid a recurrence. Under such a situation, Suzuki’s returning to the group will not obtain the approval of Tokyo citizens, the JCP statement argues.
The statement stresses that the JCP will again call on other political parties to implement concrete measures to prevent remarks violating human rights in assembly meetings and to promote women’s empowerment.
Past related articles:
> Political parties except JCP overlook sexist jeering issue June 26, 2014 []
> LDP sexist assemblyman pledged to ‘respect’ women’s rights [June 24, 2014]
In June last year, at a plenary meeting of the metropolitan assembly, the lawmaker, Suzuki Akihiro, heckled a female colleague who was a member of the dissolved Your Party while she was discussing measures to tackle the declining birth rate, by saying, “You’d better get married soon.” This provoked fierce criticism from both inside and outside the assembly.
Five days later, assuming responsibility for his remark, Suzuki suggested leaving the LDP assembly group while maintaining his LDP membership and the Tokyo LDP accepted his suggestion. Demanding Suzuki’s resignation as an assembly member, the Japanese Communist Party Metropolitan Assembly Members’ group submitted to the assembly a draft resolution to this effect, but it was voted down with opposition from the LDP and Komei Party.
On the day Suzuki was re-admitted to the LDP group, the JCP assembly members’ group issued a statement. The statement states that one year has passed since the sexist jeering, and Suzuki and the LDP neither reflected on the discriminatory remark nor took action to avoid a recurrence. Under such a situation, Suzuki’s returning to the group will not obtain the approval of Tokyo citizens, the JCP statement argues.
The statement stresses that the JCP will again call on other political parties to implement concrete measures to prevent remarks violating human rights in assembly meetings and to promote women’s empowerment.
Past related articles:
> Political parties except JCP overlook sexist jeering issue June 26, 2014 []
> LDP sexist assemblyman pledged to ‘respect’ women’s rights [June 24, 2014]
