TOKYO, Aug 31 — With falling birthrates worldwide, countries all over the world are doing their best to encourage citizens to get married and have babies.
That includes Japan, a country that keeps making headlines for its aging population and low birthrate.
Tokyo Shimbun reported the government was proposing an incentive of ¥600,000 (RM18,000) for single women from Tokyo to move to rural areas and marry a local bachelor.
Toru Kumagai, assistant counsellor of the cabinet secretariat’s Council For The Realisation Of The Digital Garden City Nation said that while many women move to Tokyo, many unmarried men are instead living in rural areas.
In response to criticism that the incentive was only geared towards women, he countered that “something must be done” and that he wanted to encourage women who are considering a move to the countryside.
The ¥600,000 was not even the only incentive, with the government also contemplating subsidising transport costs for marriage events in rural areas.
Critics however derided the move as sexist as it excludes men, and some even pointed out that the sum was too small especially with how expensive moving costs would be and it would hardly encourage women to up-end their lives for such a small fee.
Munetsugu Matsuoka, president of the sexual minority support group FAIR, also said that the move was “objectifying women”, focusing only on single women and excluding sexual minorities.
After the backlash, it seems the proposal could be scrapped and not included in the upcoming national budget but with Japan’s predominantly male government, a solution for the population crisis that is amenable to women could be a long ways away.
