Coronavirus: Japan mayor’s remark on ‘indecisive women shoppers’ sparks outrage

Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui says men are faster at grocery shopping, which helps them better avoid social contact during the coronavirus pandemic

Social media users slammed him for ‘being disrespectful to women and men’, although a few agreed that ‘elderly women’ dawdle

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Not a dawdler: Men ‘snap up things’ quickly, says Osaka’s mayor. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:40pm, 24 Apr 2020Updated: 7:40pm, 24 Apr 2020

The mayor of Japan’s Osaka prefecture has come under fire for suggesting men should do grocery shopping during the coronavirus outbreak because women are indecisive and “take a long time”.

Japan is under a state of emergency over the pandemic, and residents in some areas have been asked to shop less frequently and only send one family member out to get supplies to limit contact.

By Friday morning, there were nearly 1,500 coronavirus cases in Osaka and the prefecture that surrounds it, making it the second hardest-hit after Tokyo, national broadcaster NHK said.

Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui told reporters on Thursday that men should be entrusted with grocery runs because women “take a long time as they browse around and hesitate about this and that”, Kyodo news agency reported.

Traditional gender roles are still deeply rooted in Japanese society. Photo: Reuters

“Men can snap up things that they are told (to buy) and go, so I think it’s good that they go shopping, avoiding human contact,” the 56-year-old added.

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

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