Boris Johnson risked being branded sexist after joking that women only go to university to find a husband.
The London Mayor was accused of being disrespectful for dismissing the motivations of half of the population for becoming graduates.
The comments were all the more embarrassing, coming during a panel debate with the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Joke: London Mayor Boris Johnson was branded 'hopelessly out of touch' for his claim that women only go to university to find a husband
Despite being one of the most senior politicians in the country, Mr Johnson is known for cracking jokes while carefully avoiding giving offence.
But his habit of blurting out the first thing that comes into his head can sometimes backfire.
The latest gaffe came at the launch of the World Islamic Economic Forum, where he was appearing with Najib Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The pair also visited the site of Battersea Power Station to mark the start of a major redevelopment, funded with £8billion from Malayaisa.
But during a discussion on women in education, Mr Johnson may have over-stepped the mark.
Remarking on the role of women in Islamic societies, Mr Razak said: 'Before coming here my officials have told me that the latest university intake in Malaysia, a Muslim country, 68 per cent will be women entering our universities.'
To laughter, and a few groans, Mr Johnson then added: 'They’ve got to find men to marry.'
The remark, which emerged online today, was quickly condemned by many on social networking sites.
The Everyday Sexism campaign said the comments were 'pathetically archaic, unacceptably sexist and hopelessly out of touch'.
Gaffe: Mr Johnson made the remark during a debate with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (right), with whom he also visited Battersea Power Station to break ground on a new development with David Cameron
Labour's shadow equality minster Kate Green said: 'Boris Johnson may think his buffoonery allows him to get away with his outdated opinions but this isn't funny.
'These comments are insulting to the women across the country and across the world who have gone to university, worked hard and used their talents to get on. He should apologise.'
In a statement Mr Johnson insisted it was 'ludicrous' to suggest he thought women went to university to find a husband.
He said: 'Some people seem to have misconstrued something I said at a press conference 5 days ago, about relative male underachievement in university entrance.
'It is utterly ludicrous and infuriating to suggest that I think women go to University to find a husband.
'I was merely pointing out something that I’ve said several times before - that with a graduate cohort 68 per cent female you intensify the phenomenon sociologists identify as assortative mating.'
Mr Johnson's biographer Sonia Purnell noted that Mr Johnson met his first wife, Tatler cover girl Allegra Mostyn-Owen, while at university in Oxford.
Last month Mr Johnson boasted that he had had more fun at university than David Cameron, who he dismissed as a ‘girly swot’ because he got a first class degree.
The London Mayor, who got a 2:1 degree in classics from Balliol College Oxford, lashed out after he was teased about the Prime Minister’s greater academic accomplishment.
Quizzed about Mr Cameron and his brother Jo Johnson - now head of Mr Cameron’s policy board - both of whom got firsts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, the Mayor pointed out that he won a scholarship and they did not.
In an interview with the London Evening Standard, he then branded his rivals: ‘Girly swots who wasted their time at university.’
Mr Johnson and Mr Cameron have been rivals since they were at Eton College together and members of the exclusive Bullingdon Club dining society at Oxford.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2358248/Women-university-man-marry-Boris-Johnson-accused-sexism-joke-Malaysian-Prime-Minister.html#ixzz2YXHeyqGp
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