Japan’s lower house sees a drop in female MPs to 15%, a setback for gender equality in politics despite Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s historic re-election
TOKYO: The number of women in Japan’s powerful lower house has fallen following snap elections, dealing a blow to gender equality in the nation’s male-dominated politics.
Results showed women now hold just 68 of the 465 seats, a decline from 73 in the previous parliament.
This drop occurred despite Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi securing a historic landslide victory for her conservative coalition on Sunday.
Takaichi, who became Japan’s first woman prime minister four months ago, has shown little appetite for framing her leadership around gender issues.
She named a male-dominated cabinet when she took office in October, despite earlier pledges to boost female representation.
“The inauguration of Prime Minister Takaichi doesn’t appear to have sparked a strong movement within the LDP to significantly increase the number of female candidates,” politics expert Yuki Tsuji told AFP.
Women now make up only 15% of lawmakers in the lower house, known as the House of Representatives.
A record 24% of candidates were women, but that figure was just one percentage point higher than in the 2024 election.
Of the 68 women elected, 39 came from Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
This represents just over 12% of the LDP’s 315 lawmakers in the chamber.
One notable success was Hikaru Fujita, who stood for the LDP while pregnant and defeated a veteran lawmaker.
She secured nearly half the votes in her district in central Nagano province after a campaign focused on supporting young people and women.
Takaichi personally endorsed Fujita when she announced her pregnancy.
Analysts note that Takaichi’s own conservative views on gender place her on the right of an already conservative party.
She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname.
“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,” said professor Yu Uchiyama.
Japan ranked 118 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report.
The result underscores the rigid gender roles that persist in Japanese society, where women are often expected to prioritise home and family.
