80 years on, gender gap persists in Japanese politics

A new study released for International Women's Day reveals that Japan's political gender gap has seen minimal improvement in the 80 years since women first exercised their right to vote. The research, conducted by a group of experts, created a local index where a score of 1 represents full equality. Tokyo ranked first for the fifth consecutive year, but its score of just 0.386 underscores how far the nation is from parity. Alarmingly, eight prefectures, including Kanagawa near Tokyo, saw their scores fall from 2024 levels, while 16 others showed negligible improvement of 0.010 or less.

The data indicates that recent elections have failed to drive progress. The February House of Representatives election actually saw a decline, with women accounting for only 14.6% of elected candidates, a drop of 1.1 percentage points from the previous general election. This stagnation persists despite Japan's international commitments to gender equality and occurs in a regional context where other democracies are making faster strides. The findings suggest deep-seated structural and cultural barriers within Japan's political institutions are preventing meaningful change, raising questions about the effectiveness of current policies and party candidate selection processes.