Earlier this week Hillary Clinton said that sexism has no place in politics, but it seems some members of Japan’s governing party missed the memo. Two Japanese national media outlets have reported that members of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party, repeatedly interrupted Tokyo assemblywoman, Ayaka Shiomura, during a debate on supporting child-rearing women; shouting questions like”Why don’t you get married?” and “Are you not able to have a baby?”.
“The jeering came from the direction of the seats allocated for the LDP members,” Otokita told AFP, while a LDP spokesperson said they were still investigating the incident and unable to respond to complaints.
Shiomura, a member of Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, continued with her questioning despite being reduced to tears, according to Japanese newspaper, The Sun Daily.
Shiomura had been calling for increased support for women considering fertility treatment, noting that women were struggling to cope with pregnancy and child-rearing due to a lack of public support, when, according to Japan Times, a man yelled out “before you make accusations like that, you should hurry and get married yourself.”
The Sun Daily quoted Shiomura after the session, telling reporters the comment heckling amounted to abuse.
“Jeers like that degrade a person and amount to abuse,” she told reporters, adding, “They should not shout things that have nothing to do with policies.”
Support for Shiomura quickly followed the session, with a member of the LDP’s coalition partner New Komeito said she could “never forgive” the behaviour, while the Japan Communist Party said it was “terrible sexual harassment”.
The comments come at a time when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to make corporate Japan more female-friendly.
Japan is currently facing an extreme population crisis with an ageing workforce and slow decline in fertility — Japanese women are opting to have children later so they can maintain their career because a severe lack of childcare facilities are not available to support working mothers. The country also has one of the lowest rates of female workforce participation in the developed world, according to the OECD.
A Goldman Sachs report shows that if as many Japanese women were employed as men, the Japanese economy would grow by 13%.
The Prime Minister has also called for tax incentives for companies that hire women, more day care openings to support working families and a target for company boards to be at least 30% female by 2020.
Currently, 70% of Japanese women quit their jobs after having their first child, and occupy just 1.6% of leadership roles in public companies.