Here’s this week’s Media Mix about the effort to increase the number of female candidates in this month’s prefectural and municipal elections. By all accounts, the effort has been unsuccessful, and the column explains various reasons as reported in the press. Near the end of the piece I mention in passing a Mainichi article that outlined in disturbing detail the harassment and psychological abuse many female politicians have to endure, even from their own supporters. I could have written an entire column on this topic since Mainichi wasn’t the only media to report on it, though some tended to treat it in sensational terms. The usual pattern is that a male supporter gets close to a female candidate and after she is elected he demands more face time with her, and if she doesn’t offer as much attention as he thinks he deserves, he starts stalking and maligning her on social media. In many cases, the woman reduces her public appearances so as to avoid any possibility of coming into contact with her harassers, thus undermining her effectiveness as a public figure. One woman from Machida told Mainichi that she only goes out in public if she’s with other members of the assembly. “They enjoy it when I seem intimidated,” she said of her harassers (there’s more than one), “so I want to be in a position where I can always get help in such situations.” As another woman says, it’s very difficult to log off of social media or even block certain people because politicians have to make themselves available to their constituents. Another woman said she was told to just put up with it, because all public figures have to be effective in dealing with such problems. In other words, it’s part of the job; though it isn’t part of a man’s job, specifically. In that regard, even on a less scary level, almost all the women talked about normal casual harassment related to their gender. If you get pregnant, people complain because they think that means you won’t be able to fulfill your job as a lawmaker. More to the point, in matters of political disagreement, a man will take special offense if a woman politician opposes his viewpoint and use her sex against her. As the example of the young New York congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, shows, this is not a problem limited to Japan, but in America, at least, women who push back are supported in public. In Japan, that seems to be less likely, and the women in the Mainichi article imply that they don’t get much help when fighting against this kind of abuse, and that includes lack of support in the media, whose own attitudes about female politicians may simply exacerbate the problem.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
Categories
Meta
Blogroll