Karen Makishima is the only female running for Japan's ruling party in her 20-seat prefecture for the Oct 27 general election, reflecting the tough battle women face in breaking into the country's male dominated politics.
Her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has promised to narrow one of the widest gender gaps among lawmakers in the democratic world, but even with a record fifth of all election candidates being women, it and other parties will likely fail to hit a government target of 35% female lower house candidates by 2025.
While surveys show societal attitudes towards women in Japan are a barrier, some also say the ruling LDP, which has governed for almost all the post-war period, is not serious about shrinking the gender gap in lawmakers, citing its failure to implement bolder measures.
Only 16% of LDP candidates in the upcoming poll are women, compared with 22% for the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), according to a Reuters' analysis.
Gender inequality may not be a top issue in the snap election, but the scandal-hit LDP, which also faces an upper house poll by July, needs every vote, both from men and women, with polls suggesting it may lose its long-held majority.
Between making stump speeches and posing for photos in her coastal constituency of Odawara, about two hours drive from the capital Tokyo, Makishima told Reuters that female candidates struggle to overcome societal views that the long hours and cut and thrust of Japanese politics is not for women.
"The biggest drawback of having a low number of female legislators is that it doesn't change the traditional perceptions, such as that women are not suited to politics," said Makishima.
Japan's perennial gender gap problem has become a source of international embarrassment.
It currently has just over 10% female lawmakers in its lower house versus an average of 30% in other Group of Seven (G7) advanced democracies, according to a 2024 G7 report. It ranked 118 out of 146 countries in this year's World Economic Forum gender gap report.
Last year the LDP set its own party gender target of 30% female lawmakers by 2033, but some gender equality experts say the party needs more concrete plans like gender quotas.
"The LDP's dominance is really key to why there are so few women in politics," said Emma Dalton, a senior lecturer at Australia’s La Trobe University who has studied gender inequality in Japan.
Some of its lawmakers agree that its time for bolder action.
Tomomi Inada, a former defense minister, told Reuters she believed the party should consider implementing a quota system or set out a detailed plan for how it will hit its promised 30% female lawmakers by 2033.
"A realistic path, that's what we need," she said.
In an emailed response to Reuters questions', the LDP said it had no plans for quotas and limited scope to add female candidates in the election because many of its seats were held by incumbents. While parties must support women in politics, "a shift in societal attitudes is also necessary," the LDP said.
The issues facing women in politics in Japan include gender stereotypes, difficulties balancing other commitments such as child rearing, and harassment, according to report issued by the government in 2021.
"When I’ve been out campaigning, people have kicked my signs, and when I have responded to discriminatory remarks some people have said, 'how dare a woman talk back!'" said Harumi Yoshida, the shadow minister for gender equality in the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ).
Nearly 60% of female respondents to a survey of more than 5,000 local lawmakers in 2020-21 said they had suffered harassment from the public or colleagues versus a third of male respondents.
Earlier this month, newly-anointed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba unveiled a new cabinet with just two women in what a rights group called a "clear backslide" in efforts towards gender parity. The CDPJ's shadow cabinet had eight.
In a letter to LDP leadership a week later, Inada and a group of other female lawmakers said the low number of women in parliament "distorts democracy itself".
The letter made several recommendations to improve gender parity in the election including ranking women higher on lists of non-constituency candidates selected by proportional representation, which gives them a better chance of winning seats.
A Reuters' review of those lists found higher rankings mainly dominated by men. The LDP said a record 39% of its candidates on the lists were female but declined to comment on their ranking.
Nevertheless, Makishima, who won her seat by a large margin in 2021, remains hopeful for broader change.
"We are in a transitional period," she said.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
19 Comments
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kohakuebisu
The fastest way to implement this is for female voters to not vote LDP and instead vote for the other parties. They'll get the message.
fwiw, I don't think Ishin are big on issues like different surnames for couples, so an anti-LDP vote for them may not be especially "pro-woman".
Moonraker
Has it really though? Let's hear from some of those silent downvoter types who don't think so; perhaps even that the world should keep its nose out of Japanese ways.
el
Yes, the gender gap in Japan is being commented on by a number of international organizations so I think it's definitely giving Japan some negative attention. Surprisingly, my district has not only a woman incumbent running for the LDP but she's half Uyghur.
jeffy
From the article:
Translation: The majority of society subscribes to traditional gender roles.
And why should the LDP “implement bolder measures”? The desired “bolder measures” run counter to the society at large which majorly subscribes to traditional gender roles.
Is the argument of the article then that the LDP should “implement bolder measures” contrary to the sensibilities of the society at large because Japan is ranked low by some globalist organization?
I image so considering how one of its members, Larry Fink ( https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/larry-fink/ ), is on record saying with respect to management at his company BlackRock “You have to force behaviors. If you don’t force behaviors, whether it’s gender or race or just any way you want to say the composition of your team, you're going to be impacted… We’re gonna have to force change” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTDdDgr-xYo ). Perhaps this is the ideal type of global governance which the WEF would like to see more of, but those who care about democracy would rather not see anything close to such measures from the government as it amounts to social engineering of the population to be good globalists.
Falco1
I’m not surprised about this,Japan is unwilling to make changes in improving women/human/animal rights and this is part of it’s declining.
BackpackingNepal
Who makes coffee and who carry heavy boxes at your workplace? There you go, the gender issues!
Simon Foston
MoonrakerToday 05:10 pm JST
There are eleven of them, apparently, you'd think one of them had something to say.
tora
Why is the west (WEF, international agencies et al especially) hell bent on getting Japan to change? They also want Japan to go full woke and embrace immigration too.
Japan: don't.
Sanjinosebleed
So embarrassing for Japan! Get some self respect and start accepting that the ladies are just as good as the men!
Mr Kipling
or....
So embarrassing for Japan! Get some self respect and start accepting that the ladies are just as bad as the men!
pogogo
What astounds me most in this scenario is the incredible capability, competentcy of 'ordinary' Japanese women I have known in Japan. Even without political experience/training, I believe they could easily serve in any administration. It boggles my mind that either they do not step up or are not allowed to.
151E
Many people are not interested in politics. Is it possible that even fewer women than men have political ambitions? Is every discrepancy in representation a result of discrimination? Some 36% of Japanese men have male pattern baldness? Is this equitably reflected in our politicians? Why the discrimination against baldness?!? Perhaps we need bolder action, such as a quota system.
albaleo
One reason might be that they want to keep men out of the house for as long as possible.
mountainpear
if you're a woman worth voting for you wouldn't be running for the LDP!
Peter Neil
there are no laws prohibiting women from running for office.
when more women run, more will be elected.
Andy
Give me the old misogynistic men in parliament any day, say the forever voters in Japan.
Moonraker
I am happy you are aware of this. I do this pretty often and I am pretty used to this now, Simon. It is a recurring pattern. There doesn't seem to be any courage of convictions but it conforms to the passive-aggressive current of the people in general.
grund
As with most things in Japan change takes time. I think it is better compared to, say, 40 or 50 years ago. Another 400-500 years and Japan will have caught up to Europe and the US.
Negative Nancy
Who in their right mind would want to be a politician?
Statistically, more men are invested in politics than women, and thus the rate of women in any position is low too.