As people in Japan celebrated Halloween (and graced our timelines with their creative favorite “mundane” Halloween costume pics), others anxiously awaited the results of the House of Representatives election. Despite strong hopes to break the Liberal Democratic Party’s decade-long reign, newly minted Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s party once again won the majority, securing 261 seats. The election was also disappointing for another reason: women made up only 9.7% of elected officials, revealing the ongoing prevalence of gender disparities in politics, specifically the Diet.
“Low Even By International Standards”
With elections held once every 4 years, men have overwhelmingly dominated the Lower House. A total of 1,056 candidates ran for this year’s election; of those, only 186 were women, a far cry from the goal set by the 2018 Law for the Promotion of Gender Equality in Politics. In 2017, 47 women gained seats; this year, 45 women secured posts.
Hamada Mari, founder of Stand By Women, an organization supporting women in politics, lamented the low number of women elected to the Lower House. “When will this situation change?” she tweeted. “The government set a goal of increasing the number of female candidates in national elections to 35% by 2025, but given the current circumstances, that’ll be quite difficult to achieve….”
LDP member and Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu stated the number of women elected this year was “low even by international standards.” He’s certainly one to talk, though: of the three main contending parties, the LDP had the lowest percentage of female candidates. (It does, however, currently have the highest number of female elected members. Perhaps not that incredible a feat, given the party’s predominance in Japan.) In the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Gender Gap Index, Japan only moved up one spot from last year’s overall ranking, but in the political representation of women ranking, it dropped to a dismal 147th place out of 156.
High Barriers and Harassment
What barriers prevent more women from gaining seats in the Diet? It may be easy to blame the older men in power clinging to outdated ideas, but other forces beyond outright sexism are impeding progress for women in Japan’s political sphere. For working mothers, juggling childcare with work is already difficult, especially when childcare benefits keep getting slashed. While women running for the LDP have a higher chance of gaining a seat, Ozora Koki of the NPO “Anato no Basho” points out that even if the government enforced a quota system, political parties would still struggle to meet their target if younger people and women run in constituencies where defeat is almost guaranteed.
Harassment is also an issue. A 2020 survey conducted by the Cabinet Office revealed 57.6% of female assembly members experienced some form of harassment from voters and colleagues during election and assembly activities. When the aforementioned Hamada interviewed female politicians, many mentioned that voters viewed them as objects to control and overpower, not legislators with real power.
Women Aren’t Giving Up
However, of the women who campaigned for this election, there were quite a few who stood out. 25-year-old Imai Ruru of Gifu’s 5th Ward attracted attention for being “the nation’s youngest candidate” and her determination to be the voice of those affected by the ongoing pandemic. Although she lost her chance to claim a seat, she voiced her intent to continue trying to break into national politics. Former Bloomberg journalist and working mother Takahashi Maiko hoped to be one of the few women representing Kyushu, but also lost. Women clearly want to get involved in politics. Promoting interest in political activities among women is a start, but a strong support network and a safer working environment will ensure their success in an often perceived “man’s world.”
(For those interested in comperative politics, 27% of US congresspeople are women. As of 2019, the UK House of Commons was 34% women. New Zealand sits at 48.33%. Meanwhile, the highest percentage of women in a parliment/congress is Rwanda, with 61.25%.)
