‘Get Men to Do Grocery Shopping As Women Take Too Long,’ Japanese Mayor Said & Drew Flak for His Comments

By
Shawn Ambrose
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Sometimes, very important political figures say very stupid things.

Like when US President Donald Trump suggested injecting disinfectant into one’s lungs to kill the coronavirus.

This, is of course, highly dangerous and many horrified medical experts criticised him.

Or when Malaysia’s Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba advised Malaysians to drink warm water because it will “flush” the coronavirus down to the stomach, where digestive acids will kill it.

In case you missed it, it was the country’s Health Minister who said that.

But now, it isn’t misinformation that an important political figure is spreading, it’s pure prejudice.

‘Get Men to Do Grocery Shopping As Women Take Too Long,’ Japanese Mayor Said & Drew Flak for His Comments

A Japanese mayor is facing a public backlash after he suggested men should do grocery shopping during the coronavirus outbreak because women “take a long time”.

In March, it seemed like Japan had managed to control the spread of the coronavirus, with a total of just 243 cases on 1 March.

But after a huge spike in infections, the country now has 13,441 cases and 372 deaths.

As a result, the government declared a state of emergency three weeks ago and introduced a host of new restrictions nationwide.

Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui had his own suggestion to prevent the spread of Covid-19: Get men to do grocery shopping.

“Women take a longer time grocery shopping because they browse through different products and weigh out which option is best,” Matsui told reporters at a coronavirus news conference in Osaka on Thursday.

“Men quickly grab what they’re told to buy so they won’t linger at the supermarket – that avoids close contact with others.”

Image: Tenor

Criticism

Many, understandably, were outraged by Matsui’s comments and criticised him online.

One Twitter user accusing him of being “disrespectful to women and men”, while another said his comment was “full of prejudice against women”, adding “there are indecisive men and nimble and sharp women”.

Another user tweeted that Matsui had probably never done the shopping himself.

Japanese journalist Shoko Egawa also responded to the prejudicial comments on Twitter, saying that “people who know nothing about daily life shouldn’t make comments.”

Image: Tenor

When challenged by a reporter, Matsui acknowledged his remarks might be viewed as out-of-touch, but said they were true in his family.

That’s a bit like me saying all women hate bananas because my grandmother hates bananas.

As CNA reported, despite its highly educated female population, Japan ranked 121 out of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2020 gender gap index.

This is likely because of its lack of female representation in politics.

While Matsui’s comments were clearly based on prejudice, if we were to follow his guidelines for generalisation, we should get more women in political positions, because male political figures tend to say things that are dumb AF.

If you watch at least 10 minutes of brain rot content daily, you must know this:

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]