Regarding the recent incident over women entering the ring at a sumo event, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been promoting "womenomics," but women face discrimination every step of the way. Elected female politicians face harassment in their government assemblies. Corporate sex harassment goes without saying, it's the norm. When salarymen read ugly pornographic publications on public trains or in the office, they are telling women and young girls, "your feelings don't matter to me." All the sex clubs in Tokyo and Osaka are telling women, "You are just sex objects or baby-making machines."
Women will never shine in Japan until there's a new government, one that truly encourages women to participate. Misogynist dinosaurs like Abe and Taro Aso should retire and make way for a younger, more enlightened generation.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.