After decades of researching women and gender issues in Japan, retired American professor Joyce Gelb was not shocked by the male Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members who harassed one of their female colleagues in June, but she hopes the incident will spark much-needed change.
"It could be a very positive catalyst for a future sort of consequences for people who behave this way, unless it is quickly forgotten," the City College of New York's professor emeritus said during a recent interview.
The academic, who also taught at Japanese universities, was referring to the June 18 incident in which some assemblymen heckled Ayaka Shiomura as she asked questions about maternity support.