A mayor in Japan is being criticized after saying men should go grocery shopping during the pandemic because women are indecisive and 'take a long time'

• Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui told reporters on Tuesday that men should be grocery shopping instead of women during the coronavirus pandemic.
• He said that women "take a long time as they browse around and hesitate about this and that" while grocery shopping.
• Men, Matsui said, "snap up things they are told (to buy) and go, so I think it's good that they go shopping, avoiding human contact."
• His comments were met with criticism online.
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The mayor of Osaka, Japan, faced criticism this week after saying men should do household grocery shopping during the novel coronavirus pandemic because women are indecisive and "take a long time" at stores.

Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui told reporters on Tuesday that women "take a long time as they browse around and hesitate about this and that" while grocery shopping, AFP reported, citing Japan's Kyodo news agency.

"Men can snap up things they are told (to buy) and go, so I think it's good that they go shopping, avoiding human contact," he said.

In response to an uptick in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, Japan announced a state of emergency on April 17, and has increased its number of testing facilities across the country.

Japan has recorded more than 12,000 cases of COVID-19, and at least 328 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.

Residents in Osaka have been told to stay inside and have only one person per household go shopping.

According to AFP and CNN, several people, including Japanese journalist Shoko Egawa tweeted criticism about Matsui's comments online, calling it "disrespectful" and "prejudice."

Japan is ranked 110 out of 149 countries in the World Economic Forum's latest global gender gap index, and ranks lowest in gender equality among G7 countries.

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