Women and Politics in Contemporary Japan

Emma Dalton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780415827386
• eBook ISBN: 9781317554189
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book looks at the gendering of the political system in Japan and the effects of that system on gender equality in national-level politics specifically and wider society more generally. It examines the approach taken by the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to issues of gender equality in Japan, and the repercussions of that approach on women's political experiences and representation. This book covers a range of themes including the role of the LDP and other major political parties in constructing the modern Japanese political system, the under-representation of women in Japanese politics, women's experiences in party politics and the gendering of government policies. Using in-depth interviews with women members of the national Diet, the book sheds light on how political women negotiate the male-dominated world of Japanese politics.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Women, power and politics under LDP rule: gender equity discourses and practices 1955-93
• 2 Post-1993 political power structures and gender equity policies
• 3 Ambivalent ambitions
• 4 The importance of women in politics
• 5 Negotiating a masculinised party culture
• Conclusion: the failure of ‘equality’ and the possibility of gender quotas
• Appendix 1: women in the Lower and Upper Houses
• Appendix 2: women per political party
• Appendix 3: interview participants
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index