Japan eyes 35% quota for women political candidates by 2025

Equality of outcome, what could possibly go wrong there.

Ignore above, didn't read correctly, it's candidates not in office. It's fine to have more women competing may the best man win.

Typo. Surely they meant 2250?

Japan eyes 35% quota for women political candidates by 2025

Why not a 50% quota?

Koizumi had some of the same "initiatives" 20 years ago. We all witnessed what radical reforms they brought to Japanese politics and society...

Seriously. When will they stop throwing out random numbers just for the sake of saying something. They will prioritize placing women in these positions just as much as the Abe administration.

I hope the Suga government will fall before this insanity becomes reality.

Eyes and actions are two different things

I'll believe it when I see it

Come On Guys! Read the headline before commenting! The are only going to EYE it! I eye things every day. I never do anything about anything. I only eye it.

Only if they are LDP candidates right? If they aren't they they dont matter!

Oh and the 35% "candidates" thing......... should be aiming for that as actual winners, if not more! They have to support them in their campaigns as well, and that is hard for me to see happening in the current climate here, where folks have to "wait in line" to be a candidate in some major elections!

(Koike is case in point! and I know of others locally too! They were told..."It's not your turn yet!")

There is something wrong here. I tried to agree [ + } what Tokyo Joe Said many times, however the [+] button did not enable me to agree. The [-] button did work. I agree with Tokyo Joe.

TokyoJoeToday  06:32 am JST

Equality of outcome, what could possibly go wrong there.

Gender diversity does not necessarily mean thought diversity. For example, you can stash the government with Yuriko Koikes and Mio Sugitas, and you're not going to see much of a difference. Japan and the government need thought diversity, and they're not going to get it by filtering in gender or even ethnicity. It all starts from the electoral system, which has to be flexible enough to allow diverse type of candidates to get elected. I've explained before in greater detail why the current electoral system and laws are too rigid for that to happen.

Why not a 50% quota?

Why not make it 95%?

No "diversity" makes anything better. Motorcycles, rowboats, sports teams and societies function more efficiently when there are common goals and values.

I'm eyeing Olympic gold next year. Just saying.

Quotas should be reserved for people with any sort of disability.

Quotas for genders and races are pure discrimination, unless they really want to pass the message that women are inferior to men.

I think the question is how they actually go about achieving such a goal.

It should all be based on merit not on some quota fulfillment, this sort of politics leads to more stupidity.

LDP politics at its best.

Bjorn TomentionToday 08:39 am JST

It should all be based on merit not on some quota fulfillment, this sort of politics leads to more stupidity.

Were you Bjorn yesterday? Do you think all those LDP politicians are there based on merit? Do you think Abe became prime minister based on merit?

Aiming for a 35% quota for candidates. Hoping for a change. and that's just candidates not even elected officials.

Is it just me or do others find it strange that Japan has to set a quota to allow women into positions of power? IE, politics and management.

Why is it so extraordinary difficult for some people to understand and accept differences between women and men? What comes next, a 35% duty for men to become pregnant and breastfeed the so born babies? You are just crazy to demand women into politics and men into household work if they don’t want it and aren’t specialized in those fields since very ancient times and therefore even nowadays still kind of DNA- imprinted.

It's unfortunate most people will vote against their own interests. I think if there are more women candidates with clear policies, they might have a shot if they have policies to help women work and raise children. Who knows women better than women?

Japan, which lags on the global stage in terms of gender equality and parity, aims to significantly increase female representation among lawmakers and civil servants, as well in managerial positions in private businesses, among others, in a plan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's cabinet will approve in December to revise the current goals.

When you have a media that is scared of asking hard questions and too lazy or scared to do just a little investigative journalism , you can get away with making goals and not even attempting to execute them

with utter confident of never being called out.

Lawmakers are elected by the public, how is the gov't going to get the public vote female candidates over

their male counterparts, shell out 150M yen to the campaign of each female candidate regardless of the party

or only LDP female candidates like was done with Anri Kawai who is under trial now or select sports women

like Olympic minister former Olympic skater Seiko Hashimoto, Olympic Judoist Ryoko Tamura, Singers Mihara Junko, Eriko Imai to name a few. How about the gov't start with effecting the change where it can and is easier to do like in the ministeries, how many women are in top positions in government ministeries, Ambassadors, in the Cabinent, Mayors and Governors, Professors in Public universities, Prosecutors etc. The government can set the tone and set an example instead of taking rabbits out of the hat like a magician with the only goal of giving the people their periodic dose of feel-good medication.

better would be a 35% quota for oyajis.

I’d vote for anyone but the deceitful oyajis that currently make up the majority

It is fine even if one day women participation does exceed the 50% mark, provided that those candidates were chosen based on merit, instead of gender-picked due to the need of satisfying the PC brigade out there.

Question is, are there even enough women in Japan that interested in politics to get close to fulfilling this goal? If most women just don't care enough about politics to run, then the available pool of talent will be tiny. And those interested in politics still have options such as working in local community groups or going into business or joining an NGO or the like where they probably think they can get more done for the time they invest.

Japan has always struggled with the idea of democratic representation as it is - feudal habits die hard here. Seems to me that in many parts of the country, most people who even bother to vote just support the modern reincarnation of their local daimyo, not infrequently the son of the last one.

That said, there's nothing stopping women from getting together and forming their own party and putting their ideas to the electorate. Expecting them to do well is another matter (see previous paragraph as to why). But quotas won't solve the problem of women getting their issues a good run in the Diet because the LDP are mostly going to pre-select yes-women who don't rock the boat, and will just make up the numbers with them.

Quotas and goals are not interchangeable terms. In any democracy it is very bad to set quotas for candidates which are selected by a local constituency association and cannot be done for who is elected. A goal can be set but not a quota. On the other hand in hiring a quota can indeed be set.

Keep in mind that around the world, companies that diversified hiring without being forced to saw an increase in profit but companies that were forced to diversify saw a decrease in profit.

Also there is an "equality paradox." In countries like Sweden with more equality and freedom of choice woam gravitate to "traditional" jobs like nursing and not engineering.

Neckbeards: "But they're 50% of the population!!!"

Me: "Quotas are dumb, just elect qualified people."

Unfortunately, this may be a case where Social Justice Ideal number one clashes with Social Justice Ideal number 2. If, as the SJ people say, gender is merely a social construct and cannot be quesioned, then any man can simply declare himself to be a woman and meet the quota numbers. However, that doesn&t jive with the quota itself. So it is meaningless. Suga could simply say "I'm a woman" and bingo, Japan has its first female Prime Minister.

Trudeau in Canada tried something similar with his first cabinet, insisting on 50% females. The results were predictably disastrous.

@Bjorn Tomention

It should all be based on merit not on some quota fulfillment, this sort of politics leads to more stupidity.

It should be based on merits. But we all know, especially in politics, that most positions are gained and careers are advanced based on relationships and connections. If it were based on merits, a cyber security minister that doesn't know how to use a smartphone or computer just wouldn't be in that position. Wouldn't knowing how to use a smartphone and computer be the most basic qualifications for a cyber security minister?

Japan, which lags on the global stage in terms of gender equality and parity

Understatement of the year. They are dropping down the gender equality rankings as they are overtaken by other countries. Now down to 121st place, the lowest ever. Japan embarrasses itself with its feudal, backwards thinking.

An example of what they have to get over is the bullying lawmakers have to deal with from the oyajis is they try to change the system to make it easier for women to combine work and childcare, if they challenge gender roles by not being married, or choosing another woman over a man. Until this changes, many women are put off venturing into politics. A vicious circle, which pioneers need to fight against by teaming up, and getting popular support for the changes they are trying to bring in. This includes male lawmakers who push back against traditional gender roles by taking paternity leave. It is a long tough road in a society where still dominated by oyajis with caveman attitudes.

Gender equality by itself will not solve the issues of a corrupt political class and old boy network that Japanese politics has run on for so long. Someone like Koike is a case in point. She may be a tough nut who fought to break through a glass ceiling to get to where she is, but now she is there, we are stuck with the same old brand of right wing politics from her, that lies to the public and pushes tired nationalistic postures and offers nothing new, just empty gestures and soundbites. Her support through hell or high water of these useless Olympics and her coronavirus response are clear examples.

Even so, it is a start, and Japan needs to get its skates on if it doesnt want to find itself bottom of the gender equality rankings in a few years.

Oh dear, it's happened.

North American political mentality has finally reared its ugly head here.

The problem with quotas is that you end up prioritising on what people are and not how competent they are.

This farce is just another case of replacing one problem with another.

If people are so desperate to have more women in government, the culture as a whole has got to change.

Only candidates...not actual elected lawmakers.

We know how far this will get...

I ignore anything that suggests a change will happen in the far future and not happen today or tomorrow.

It has been long overdue. Japanese women are still being subdued for no apparent reason. It is time to open up all endeavors for their participation and treat them on equal basis as men, as many are equally capable if not more competent.

Start now, don't make the women to wait any longer.

To be a politician in Japan you need whack loads of money. Gender balance is good but ultimately it will still be the same rich people - no balance there.

What about putting the most capable people regardless their gender?

To all the people saying "just put up the most capable people, regardless of gender" - well sure, but that misses the glaringly obvious fact that the most capable people are NOT being put forward regardless of gender, and in fact men have relentlessly been put forward who are clearly not the most capable. You just have to look at the executive class of a typical company to see that.

What we are talking about here is candidates. Voters will still have the opportunity to reject them if they feel they are not capable. Quotas might not be an ideal solution but the alternative so far has been to allow a system where the selection process and the party machinery behind it clearly discriminates against capable women to an almost comical degree. Sometimes we have to at least try and even the playing field - and even with this quota I'd still rather be a man seeking election than a woman.

What, are women going to be forced to become sleazy politicians now?

Women are smarter than that. That's why most sleazy politicians are men.

It'll be interesting to see whether women voters support these (still hypothetical) female candidates with their votes. The LDP is a ruling machine and it has managed to rule so far without putting up many female candidates to get the votes it needs. Half the electorate is female. It is the biggest special interest group going.

This is not gaikoku, so I won't take women supporting female achievers as a given. Some housewives see women who manage to juggle a family and a career as a threat.

Ok......so are they planning to grab women off the street & force to run for political office..... & men who have or want to run be told they no longer can......

Just like employment women need to be INTERESTED in these things or they wont participate, my gut says most J-women are simply not interested

Bobby Fizzicola

As i said it should be based on merit !

You completely misunderstand what I said or refuse to .

Not gender based, not inherited, not school, not shoulder rubbing But Merit !

Get it ?

JJ jetplane my point is it should be based on merit, please try to understand what i said.

Merit means exactly thats, and it should be applied equally across all things, forget the old sholder rubbing days of who you went to school with or who you know, that is my point ! Please think about what I said you will find then that you understand what I said.

Next in line or its your turn is not merit based !

@proxy: Also there is an "equality paradox." In countries like Sweden with more equality and freedom of choice woam gravitate to "traditional" jobs like nursing and not engineering.

This is the area in which the social justice types run into reality. It is exactly true that the more choice you give to people, as we have seen in Scandinavian counties, the more likely they are to choose more gender orientated occupations. Just like there is a biological reason why more men are in prison than women there is also a biological reason why more women gravitate to jobs such as teaching and childcare. In the West we are seeing a huge surge in the number of women becoming doctors. More women are obtaining college degrees than men now and women have moved from nurse to doctors (more general practitioner than specialist).

The only way to achieve parity in all occupations that the Progressives want to have parity in is by force. Let's face it, they don't want parity in all occupations That isn't a route towards a happy society.

Do women get to choose?

No one seems to care if women actually want some of this stressful positions, which many men run away from too.

This agenda of forcing women in certain positions of power, even if you have good intentions, the results might not be what you expected.

Former Prime Minister tried to hire more women in the government, 2 of them quit within the first year. Does that matter? Apparently not.

Nothing will really change policy wise.

All of those women will come from the political families anyways. Only the people with the correct last name can win elections in Japan anyways, and the political families have fanatical support among the voters. People from non-political families have zero chance in Japan, as the voters will not see them as legitimate rulers.

Elections here aren't going to open up to anyone, male or female, while hereditary politicians and their support groups are around and lead local party organisations. They'll just keep going with the children and grandchildren of the LDP good old boys because that's the way they hold onto the votes and cash networks.

The Tokyo Medical University entrance exam scandal: lessons learned

Yeah, pretty bad, the reasoning was female doctors tended to quit the profession quite soon......a better idea would be to let future docs know how long they MUST work as doctors in order for the country to benefit from the investment made, if they quit before a certain amount of time then they need to PAY off the debt to country.

Japan eyes 35% quota for women political candidates by 2025

LOL, right.....

December 2024............

Politician A (sempai): Do we have 35% of positions filled by women?

Politician B (kouhai): No.

Politician A (sempai): Well, go put them in.

Politician B (kouhai): Who?

Politician A (sempai): matter. As long as they look good on a poster, who cares? Men are gonna be their superiors anyway. Just add the first ten women you see in the building.

Politician B (kouhai): OK!

Keep on dreaming.

Unnecessary.

Former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, announced plans in 2013 to create a “Japan in which women can shine.”

Only a week or so ago, I was watching the Diet proceedings, and when Renho asked Prime Minister Suga about the status of women during the pandemic, he affirmed Abe's success by citing the percentage of minimum wage, part-time jobs now filled by women.

I really like Renho. :-)