Japan elects fewer women MPs in snap election
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Ms Hikaru Fujita stood for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party while pregnant and won against a veteran lawmaker, securing nearly half the votes in her district.
PHOTO: NORIKO HAYASHI/NYTIMES
TOKYO - The number of women in Japan’s powerful Lower House has fallen after snap elections, results showed on Feb 10, dealing a blow to already underrepresented women in male-dominated Japanese politics.
Ms Sanae Takaichi tightened her grip on power
Women now make up 15 per cent of lawmakers, winning 68 of 465 seats in the house of representatives – down from 73 elected in 2024 – in a vote that handed Ms Takaichi’s conservatives a historic landslide.
A record 24 per cent of candidates were women on Feb 8, but that figure was just one percentage point up from 2024.
Ms Hikaru Fujita stood for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) while pregnant and won against a veteran lawmaker, securing nearly half the votes in her district.
During her campaign in the central province of Nagano, she promised to support young people and women, and was personally endorsed by Ms Takaichi when she announced her pregnancy.
In Japan, gender roles are rigid, with women usually expected to look after the home and family, even if they work.
Ms Takaichi, a staunch conservative who admires Margaret Thatcher, named a male-dominated Cabinet when she took the helm in October, despite pledging to boost female representation.
‘Conservative stance’
“The inauguration of Prime Minister Takaichi doesn’t appear to have sparked a strong movement within the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) to significantly increase the number of female candidates,” Professor Yuki Tsuji,a politics expert from Tokai University told AFP as election campaigning began.
Of the 68 women elected to Parliament, 39 came from the LDP – just over 12 per cent of their 315 lawmakers.
Ms Takaichi’s views on gender place her on the right of an already conservative LDP, and she opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname.
Political science professor Yu Uchiyama from the University of Tokyo said that “Takaichi is so famous for her conservative stance that it is unlikely she will devote her energies to policies” like promoting diversity, equality and inclusion.
Japan ranked 118 out of 148 in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report. AFP
