NTDTV * Published on Jun 24, 2014

Japanese lawmaker apologises after sexist remarks in government assembly and has eggs thrown at his office.

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The office of a Japanese lawmaker who yelled at a female Tokyo assembly member to "hurry up and get married" was pelted with eggs on Monday night, after he apologised in an incident that embarrassed the government as it makes a major push to increase women in the workforce.

City assembly member Ayaka Shiomura, 35, was talking about measures to support child raising and boost fertility during a session last week when male lawmakers interrupted her with cries of "Hurry up and get married" and "Can't you give birth?"

Lawmaker Akihiro Suzuki on Monday bowed deeply at a hastily-called news conference to apologise for what he called an "inappropriate" remark. "I am really sorry for saying 'You should hurry up and get married' and for causing anguish to you," Suzuki said to Shiomura.

Later that evening, his office was found covered with eggs. "I apologise from the bottom of my heart for causing anguish to assembly member Shiomura, to the Tokyo assembly and to the people of Tokyo by saying 'You should hurry up and get married' which was totally inappropriate. I am really sorry," Suzuki reiterated at a news conference.

Shiomura had said most of the calls came from the direction of seats where majority assembly members, including those from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, were sitting. Just days earlier, Suzuki denied the allegations and said he was surprised he would have made such comments.

"It wasn't me who said it. I denied it the other day as well. This really comes as a surprise to me," said Suzuki last week.

The heckling prompted a flood of complaints to the government of Japan's capital, which will host the Summer Olympic Games in 2020. Abe has long vowed to take steps to mobilise the working power of women to revitalise the economy and offset a big, looming labour shortage.

The incident comes amid a push by the government to increase the number of working women as a way to boost the economy and illustrates deep-seated conservative attitudes in Japan, where many men still believe that a woman's place is in the home.

His economic reform plan, due out next week, calls for raising the proportion of women corporate managers to 30 percent by 2020 from last year's 7.5 percent as well as creating 400,000 new day care places to enable women to raise children and work. But women in Japan are often encouraged to leave their jobs after having children. Many working women face menial demands such as serving tea to male colleagues.

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