Womenomics under Abe's Leadership Signs of Feminisation of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party?

Abstract

Japanese Prime Minister Abe is known for his efforts to advance gender equality through womenomics. This seems to put Japan in line with other countries where conservative leaders have embraced gender equality to win back young and female voters and to modernise the image of conservative parties. While electoral calculation drives feminisation in the majority of cases, we argue that this is not the case in Japan. Instead, economic and international pressures are more important drivers than electoral calculations.

Notes

1 Data concerning the list of cabinet members for the first and second reshuffle of the Kan cabinet was unavailable.

2 Number in brackets denote change in vote share since previous election.

3 Number in brackets denote election year for upper house.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Malliga Och

Malliga Och is an Assistant Professor of Global Studies at Idaho State University. She is the co-editor of The Right Women: Republican Activists, Candidates, and Lawmakers (Praeger Press 2018) and the 2018 recipient of Deborah ‘Misty’ Gerner Award for Professional Development given by Women's Caucus for International Studies of the International Studies Association.

Linda Hasunuma

Linda Hasunuma is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science in the College of Public and International Affairs at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Dr. Hasunuma has forthcoming work on women in civil society in Japan and two co-authored projects about the politics of commemorating the Comfort Women are under review. She has published on ‘womenomics’, the LDP-Komeito coalition, and the structural economic reforms undertaken during the Koizumi administration in Japan. Her commentary has appeared in The Asahi Shimbun, The Japan Times, the BBC World Service radio program, and other news outlets.