Finance Minister Taro Aso's apparent justification of sexual harassment committed by a former prominent bureaucrat topped a list of the most egregious sexist and discriminatory remarks made by Japanese politicians in 2018, according to a recent online survey.
The survey, released Wednesday, was launched late last year in the belief that the country's entrenched sexism has been exacerbated by "politicians making sexist speeches that reinforce gender stereotypes, despite their purported roles as representatives of the public and their duty to make society better," says its organizer, an eight-member group of scholars and lawyers.
The survey was conducted over nine days from Dec. 29 through Sunday and garnered 3,933 votes from 2,026 people. Each respondent was allowed to vote for a maximum of two of the 12 remarks selected by the organizer.
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