No gal power

In a recent article in The Japan Times, Japan is ranked 54th out of 93 countries in the UN’s Gender Empowerment Measure index. Singapore is at 16th position, while other developed countries like Australia (8th), Germany (9th), Canada (10th), Britain (14th) and the USA (15th) reached fairly high spots. The Scandinavian countries emerged top winners with Sweden in number one position yet again.

One of the few things that would stop me from settling down in this country is the gender inequality here. For a first world country, the treatment of women is shocking, as it goes unchecked and runs deep in the cultural mindset. That doesn’t mean that people here don’t see it or feel it — my female students complain about how hard it is to get promoted and sniff at male chauvinism at the workplace and at home. The most tired story I hear all the time is how high position female professionals are in charge of the tea service if she has a meeting with her male colleagues.

At a friend’s hotpot birthday party on Sunday, a certain Singaporean male friend who is married to a Japanese woman made an appalling remark about women here. As he waxed lyrical about his colourful, bachelor days, he spits disdain over the Japanese girls he picked up in Shibuya who slept with him because they missed their train and had no where to stay overnight. I quote him, “They pay their rent with sex.”

Then, he regales everyone with the difference between a bitch and a slut — a slut is like an “SBS bus” whom anyone can get on or off anytime, but a bitch is a slut who sleeps with everyone but you.

I was shocked anyone could express such derision about Japanese women in front of Japanese company at the party. A Japanese friend cut in with a candid joke about something on the telly and all was forgotten.

It is precisely this kind of verbal abuse of women that is more insidious than those molesters on the train. The absolute disrespect for women is felt everyday — from the rude salaryman who snatches a seat from the woman next to him to the expectation of women quitting their jobs once they get preggers to the men in the elevator who step out first with the lone woman holding the lift button.

It was nice to ride the train home from the hash run with an American friend the other day. He refused to call me by my nickname (Wet Muff) because it was just disrespectful. I always thought it was hilarious how I got my name and please don’t think I’m one of those women get upset over the slightest gender inequality infractions. For someone who is used to being treated with respect everyday, it’s hard to experience the opposite.