Female Officials In Japan Displaced By Society For Exposing Sexual Harassment

Photo illustration (Mika Baumeister / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Residents in a small town in Japan, Kusatsu, voted the most to remove the only woman from the local council. This was done after he accused the mayor of sexual harassment.

Quoting CNN, Thursday, December 10, the woman named Shoko Arai got the most votes to be removed on Sunday, December 6. The request for removal was based on allegations that Arai had "demeaned" the woman in Kusatsu.

In total, 92 percent of the votes submitted demanded his removal, according to Kusatsu officials. The controversy began in November 2019, when Arai published an e-book claiming he was forced to have sexual relations with the mayor of Kusatsu, Tadanobu Kuroiwa.

A motion to fire the mayor was rejected. Even so Arai was expelled from the assembly a month later, a decision that was followed by an appeal and ultimately overturned by the prefecture.

After he was reinstated, 19 citizens led by council chairman Takashi Kuroiwa sent dismissal requests to the council. This prompted the overthrow of Arai last weekend.

The takedown request also claimed that Arai's statements to the media about allegations of sexual harassment damaged Kusatsu's reputation. This points to some of the specific statements Arai made, including one that city women are "treated as objects" and women are often mistresses for powerful resort owners for privileges.

The mayor of Kusatsu has denied the allegations. He also said Arai's salary as a board member was a "waste" of taxpayer money.

In an official response to the council, Arai said that Tadanobu Kuroiwa and the council members who called for his removal were the ones who damaged the city's dignity and reputation. Arai's removal has pushed the city into the national spotlight.

Since the weekend, the town hall has received numerous calls criticizing Arai's dismissal, most of them from outside the city, said Kusatsu official Kenji Hagiwara. Many callers called the decision unfair and sexist.

"This is an unprecedented situation," said Hagiwara. "We fear the city's image is damaged."

Sexism in Japan

Japan ranks 121 of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum's latest global gender gap index. Fewer women are employed than men in the country.

Those who work are often sidelined or excluded from senior management roles. At home, women also do most of the household chores such as caring for children, cooking and cleaning.

The gap is widening in politics. As of October, 46 of the 465 members of the lower house of parliament in Japan were women. That figure is less than 10 percent, compared with 25 percent of the global average.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2013 pledged to close the gender employment gap, a policy dubbed "Womenomics."

The campaign encourages a number of measures, such as setting targets for at least one female executive per company and offering tax incentives to companies that encourage mothers to return to work.