TOKYO: A Japanese cabinet minister called on Friday for a law to strengthen relief and protection for victims of sexual harassment, but stopped short of…
TOKYO: A Japanese cabinet minister called on Friday for a law to strengthen relief and protection for victims of sexual harassment, but stopped short of urging legal changes to make such acts a crime.
Victims of sexual harassment in Japan have traditionally been reluctant to speak out for fear of being blamed, but heated debate and protests have followed the resignation last month of a top finance bureaucrat over accusations in a weekly magazine. The official, Junichi Fukuda, denied that he had sexually harassed several female reporters, but the ministry later acknowledged he had sexually harassed a reporter and docked his pay by 20 percent for six months.
“What is needed legally is protection and relief for victims,” said Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda, who is one of only two women in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet and often seen as a longshot contender to succeed him.
“Because they are not protected, women are afraid to speak out,” Noda, who holds the portfolio for women’s empowerment, told Reuters in an interview.
A legal revision in 1997 required Japanese employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace but it does not prescribe penalties, and similar rules apply to civil servants.
