Japan Press Weekly

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2015 February 18 - 24 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Discrimination against local assemblywomen

A gender role mindset discourages equitable participation of women in local governance and political activities in Japan. The New Japan Women’s Association (Shinfujin) recently released details of discriminatory comments or treatment local assemblywomen experienced.

Gender role comments
Get divorced before you run for election; Just sit and say nothing because you are only a mascot of the assembly; women cannot be a vice speaker no matter how long you work for the assembly; Go home and prepare a meal for your own kids as a mother if you have free time to call for the creation of a school-meal program here; You must have a lack of mother love because you leave your children at childcare facilities; Speak for the expansion of childcare programs only after you give birth; Women in the assembly are naggers and costly because they always propose something costly for programs such as welfare and education; Don’t talk about public works projects as women don’t know anything about engineering.

A prefectural assemblywoman who has worked in the political arena for more than 20 years said with a resigned sigh, “The list of such comments goes on and on. To survive in the male-dominated community, I have had to learn to dismiss many annoying things before the day is over.”

Human-rights abuses
They often touch my body inappropriately at parties and even on the street outside the assembly; When I chastised male colleagues who went to a striptease club while on an overseas visit, they told me that my husband would have gone too; They hugged me around my waist while touching my bottom saying, ‘Do your best in the assembly’; A male member touching my thigh said, “Women cannot be fit for this job”; They have hostesses over to evening get-togethers when on study tours.

A business woman-turned assemblywoman in her 40s said, “Private companies are more careful about sexual harassment. The political world lags behind in gender equality.” Another said, “The assembly adopted a censure motion I submitted against a male member for sexual harassment, but he ignored it saying that the motion doesn’t have binding power. In fact, he is now threatening me with a resignation-demanding resolution for an unrelated reason.”

Things improved
An assembly where the number of women increased to four succeeded in stopping a “tea-lady” tradition thanks to a joint effort by all the four assemblywomen. The Hayama Town assembly in Kanagawa unanimously adopted a resolution urging a heckler to seriously reflect on his jeering a woman member when he said, “What do you know about childcare? You are not even married.” Another assemblyperson said, “In my assembly, when an inappropriate remark is made, the assembly steering committee will discuss whether to delete the remark from the minutes or give a strict reprimand in order to never harm the integrity of the assembly again.” An assembly person in the Tomakomai City in Hokkaido said, “I was the first assemblyperson who had a baby. Accordingly, the assembly changed its rules to include maternity and parental leave. Proposed by veteran members, the rules were revised again to add care leave. It is important to check if the rules of the assembly are up to date so that more young women can enter the political arena.”

Past related article:
> Majority of local assemblywomen experience discrimination [January 31, 2015]