Japanese Government Drops Plan Tokyo Women For Marrying Rural Men

As per News18, some officials announced that the Japanese government’s proposal to support Tokyo women in marrying rural men by offering cash incentives and train tickets to matchmaking events has been scrapped due to the major backlash on social media. 

Addressing The Growing Gender Gap

As a part of efforts to address the growing gender gap in rural areas, Bureaucrats projected to pay up to 600,000 yen ($4,140) to women for getting married and settling outside of Tokyo, as reported by local media.

The minister of state for regional revitalization, Hanako Jimi stated that she had directed officials to “review” the plan and also emphasized the reports were not true about the payment amounts. 

One cause for the scheme is that more young women leave the rural areas than young men and move to big cities for better higher education and job opportunities, and they especially move to Tokyo. A study by a private-sector expert revealed that above 40 percent of Japanese municipalities are at “risk of disappearing” due to the decreasing number of women in their 20s and 30s. 

Backlash On Social Media 

Critics criticized the scheme on social media after the media revealed, the critics reviewed it as men dominating politics and other sectors, more so than in any other major industrialized nation, and argued that the scheme treated women as commodities and would affect their autonomy.

“Did they think independent, motivated and educated women in the city would think, ‘What? If I marry a local man and move to the countryside, I’ll get 600,000 yen! I’ll do it!’? … Are they serious?” said one user on X.

“Do they still not get it? This is something people who see women as valuable only if they give birth would come up with,” another said. 

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