A prominent member of Japan’s ruling party last week described the country’s politics as “democracy without women,” days after new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga appointed just two female members to his Cabinet.
Former Japanese minister of defense Tomomi Inada from the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) added her voice to criticism of Japan’s poor record on gender equality, directing most of her anger at her own party.
“Women make up half of Japan’s population and 40 percent of the LDP grassroots membership,” she said. “If women do not have a place to discuss policies they want enacted, Japan’s democracy cannot help but be biased.”
Illustration: Mountain People
During the campaign for leader of the LDP — who is practically assured of becoming prime minister due to its dominance in parliament — a group of female legislators submitted recommendations to Suga, the eventual winner, and his two male rivals on female representation in the Cabinet and the party’s executive.
“But looking at the result, with just two women in the Cabinet, it looks like our proposals were not taken that seriously,” Inada said. “I am not saying this just for the sake of women: To enhance Japanese democracy and ensure it has a bright future, I want to create a society in which women have more of a voice in politics. I want to realize a more free, democratic and diverse political landscape, so that even in Japan women aim to become prime minister and girls aim to become politicians.”
Inada, a nationalist who has visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a controversial war memorial, and cast doubt on claims that the Japanese military forced Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II, said that the LDP should look to France, Germany and other countries with a better record on female representation in politics.
So far, the only woman to have run for LDP leadership in its 65-year history was Yuriko Koike, who left the party after being elected Tokyo governor in 2016.
However, the conservative LDP is not alone. When Japan’s two main opposition parties merged earlier this month, the battle to become leader was fought between two men.
That male dominance is reflected in the lower house of the Japanese parliament, where just 9.9 percent of legislators are women, well below the international average of 25.1 percent, Inter-Parliamentary Union data showed.
In addition, a global ranking on gender parity placed Japan 121st out of 153 countries in this year’s World Economic Forum report — 11 places down from the previous year and last among advanced economies.
Inada said that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who last month resigned on health grounds, was the nation’s first leader to prioritize women’s empowerment, “but it was presented as an economic policy. We should talk about its importance from the perspective of Japanese democracy.”
Under Abe, more women joined the workforce as part of his “Abenomics” push for economic growth, but many work in low-paid, part-time jobs.
In July, Japan quietly abandoned its goal of increasing the share of women in leadership roles to 30 percent by this year, pushing back its target date to 2030.
Women’s rights campaigners do not hold out much hope that Suga, who was Abe’s spokesman and confidante for almost eight years, will improve on his predecessor’s failed attempt to turn Japan into a country in which women can shine.
“I have no hope of seeing the new government break the glass ceiling for women,” said Hiroko Goto, a law professor at Chiba University. “Suga will continue at the same pace going forward. He wants to keep the ‘status quo.’ He has no intention to change — not only on women’s issues, but also on other issues.”
Suga barely touched on gender issues during his leadership campaign, and appointed just two women to his 21-member Cabinet: Minister of Justice Yoko Kamikawa and Minister for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games Seiko Hashimoto.
Inada, an Abe protege and Seiko Noda, a former minister for internal affairs and communications, initially expressed an interest in running for party leadership, with Inada telling a TV program: “It benefits the LDP if women aspire to become leaders. If I get the chance, I would love to take up the challenge.”
Neither of them was able to overcome the first hurdle — securing the nomination by 20 LDP legislators, as the party’s major factions quickly coalesced around Suga.
Conservative members were reportedly put off by Inada’s support for single mothers and a campaign to allow married couples to have separate surnames — issues they believe might damage traditional family values.
To illustrate the sexism she believes is entrenched in the LDP, Inada recalled a speech that she gave at a new year’s event in her constituency.
“Most of the people listening to me were men, but when I went to the kitchen, the female supporters were doing all the cooking. This is the political landscape of the LDP that I want to change,” she said. “I told the men: ‘Next year I want you all to put on an apron, and for lots of women to listen to me in the front row.’”
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