Female politicians in Japan are a rare breed. And this comes as no surprise given the treatment one female politician received when she stood up in the Diet to insist upon better support for women who were concerned about becoming mothers.
When Shiomura Ayaka raised her point during the session, she held back tears as her elderly male counterparts jeered at her suggestions. The Asahi Shimbun goes on to suggest that these men were members of the ruling LDP party.
With a falling birthrate and an aging population, can the older Japanese men who set the agenda really afford to jeer at their young female counterparts?
From Asahi Shimbun:
“Can’t You Have Children?” Female Politician Receives Jibes From LDP Politicians(?)
“You should get married yourself soon”, “Can’t you have children?”. Such were the jeers received by a female politician who raised the issue of the necessity of providing support to women with worries about pregnancy, childbirth in the Tokyo assembly on June 18, and there was an uproar from her party in protest.
It was the 35 year old Shiomura Ayaka from Your Party who received the abuse. Ms Shiomura continued her questions through tears. The jeers came from a corner where LDP members were sitting. After it had finished, Morozumi Minoru, chief secretary of Your Party, protested to Yoshiwara Osamu, chief secretary of the LDP.
While Mr Yoshiwara said that he “doesn’t know” if the jeers came from the LDP, he said that “Each party should participate with dignity”.
Comments from Twitter:
y*marina:
This is truly awful, isn’t it?
Mari@Tomoko:
Those that jeered, die. Seriously die.
yuriko(殺処分ゼロに一票):
Find out which LDP members said this, and make them quit! ★
倍返しだぁん:
We don’t need politicians in the Tokyo assembly who make a fool out of women who have problems with fertility! (`□ ́) Don’t discriminate against women who want to have children but have fertility problems! (`□ ́)
りすきい:
It’s terrible that there are politicians (LDP) like this in the city that will be hosting the Olympics. They should be exposed and fired.
カン・ユー農薬:
This is my idea of LDP at its strongest.
霧月:
The worst! These people are working out of the taxpayer’s pocket yet have no value! What sort of human beings are they? Make it known who it was!!
りえこ:
What is this? I’m so fucking pissed off! →
Tehetehetehe:
Mr Yoshihara, there is certainly no dignity here. Though this isn’t just a problem of “dignity”. Because this is a deeply rooted problem of human rights and discrimination.
サトケイ☆佐藤馨子:
On the contrary it should be “can’t you quit?” to those old men. They really have no dignity, and what kind of people are they? unreasonable ( ́・ω・`)
しおがい よしえ:
I’m amazed that Japan, a developed country, still has politicians who give this type of abuse.
かのん*:
We can’t keep the low birth rate in check with people saying things like this. It should be ascertained who said this. You need to take responsibility for what you said.
YoheiS,MPM:
It’s unclear which party they came from, but I’m shocked at these jeers. Anyway, as the problem stems from how they were brought up, send them back to kindergarten and start again.
y. h.:
Worries regarding pregnancy, childbirth and infertility? What did this woman say? I can understand being worried about infertility. However what does it even mean to be worried about pregnancy and childbirth? First, please discuss it with your husband.
たろいも:
Did their real feelings get exposed? It’s easy to see that all of this talk about gender and social progress was just a façade.
Rosemary:
This type of old men is the reason that there’s no progress with policies to combat the low birth rate (*`へ ́*)
ももじろー:
This is unmistakably the LDP, isn’t it?
koo@フトンはふっとぶ:
I mean, aren’t we too tolerant towards abusive language, Japan? This surely isn’t okay.
べー:
It seems like you can easily find out who it was though. Awful story.
