Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda’s off-hand metaphor has attracted accusations of sexism.
In an interview with BNS published on Wednesday, President Nausėda weighed in on a discussion about a permanent deployment of German troops to Lithuania.
Germany is to lead a brigade-sized NATO unit assigned to protect Lithuania from possible military aggression. However, it is not clear whether the troops would be permanently stationed in Lithuania or would only be rotated from Germany for exercises and operations.
While Lithuania currently does not have the infrastructure to support a permanent NATO brigade, some argue that Vilnius should push for a permanent deployment as quickly as possible.
President Nausėda called for moderation on this issue, but chose a bizarre turn of phrase to illustrate his point.
“The German army, you know, is not the kind of girl you can invite for a good evening by the lake in the open air. It is a serious army that needs to be offered a marriage contract, and that marriage contract needs to very clearly stipulate Lithuania’s commitments, what we will do, because otherwise the German army will not be able to fulfil its commitments to us either,” Nausėda said in the interview with BNS.
The quote has evoked heated reactions on social media, with many calling Nausėda’s remarks sexist.
“This is a sexist statement, implying that unless a woman is offered marriage, she is less worthy, the relationship is less responsible, less serious, less committed,” Margarita Jankauskaitė, of the Centre for Equality Advancement NGO, has commented for LRT.lt.
The president seems to imply that a woman’s worth is tied to a man’s decision of offering marriage or not, she says.
“If one wants to emphasise that a relationship should be serious, one can look for less sexist metaphors,” according to Jankauskaitė.
Jūratė Juškaitė, of the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights NGO, says President Nausėda’s remark sounds like a vulgarity one can hear at a drunk party.
“This kind of language is a typical sexist way of talking about women as if they were but a man’s tool instead of acting individuals,” she says.
The President’s Office has rejected public criticism of Nausėda’s comment.
“Everyone sees what they want to see. The president talked about the need for Lithuania to fulfil all its commitments as soon as possible to welcome the German brigade. Unfortunately, some politicians seem to think that this topic can be hidden by moving the discussion into the field of linguistics,” the President’s communication group said in a comment.
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