Public Lecture Slides (5.30.19) Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan - "Women and the LDP in Transition"
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Speaker: Yuki Tsuji, Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the School of Political Science and Economics, Tokai University More event details: https://www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/event/beyond-the-gender-gap-in-japan/
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Public Lecture Slides (5.30.19) Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan - "Women and the LDP in Transition"
- 1. Women and the Liberal Democratic Party in Transition YUKI TSUJI TOKAI UNIVERSITY
- 2. Women and the LDP LDP is a main cause for Japan’s low score of female political representation. LDP has been a ‘masculine’ party. However, many women have supported, voted for, and acted for the LDP. Few studied their roles and influence. LDP Komei Consti. Democratic (2018) / DPJ (2008) Communist Number of MPs (national) *2018 408 54 73 26 women (%) 41 (10.0%) 9 (16.7%) 20 (27.4%) 8 (30.8%) Number of party members *2008 1,102,460 400,000 269,124 404,300 women (%) 411,813 (37.4%) 210,000 (52.5%) 85,559 (31.8%) 179,100 (44.3%) Source: Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office
- 3. QUESTION What are women’s roles and influence in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)? mobilization, representation, and policy making Have they changed? Comparison of 1955 regime and post-1993 regime
- 4. Three Dimensions and Research Focuses • Female member of national parliament (lower and upper houses) • Professional background (careers before becoming MPs) Mobilization • Women’s Divisions (in LDP’s regional chapters) • Female party activists Representation • Women’s perspectives in making policy platformPolicy Making
- 5. Findings: Mobilization Core members of Women’s Divisions in regional chapters: married women in their 50s and beyond. Women’s contributions during electoral campaigns were enormous; face-to-face networks in local communities. Workshop in the LDP headquarters, joined by members of women division of the Fukushima prefectural chapter, April 2019. Source: LDP Women’s Affairs Division (headquarters) Website.Women’s magazine Riburu
- 6. Findings: Mobilization Women’s divisions began collecting voices of members and proposing policies on family and children inside the party in the mid 2000s. 1994 election rule change has facilitated cooperation and solidarity among female party activists and cultivated stronger partisanship. Women’s Division of the Gifu prefectural chapter of LDP. Children Happy Project since 2005
- 7. Findings: Representation A slow but steady increase in the number of of female LDP MPs and the growing diversity of their professional background. Spouses/daughters of male MPs local assembly members, bureaucrats, lawyers, doctors/nurses, teachers/professors, economists, journalists/TV newscasters, CEOs/company workers. Year first elected Number of female MPs in the LDP House of Representatives 1946 – 1990 8 1993 – 2017 44 House of Councilors 1947 – 1989 22 1992 – 2016 29
- 8. Findings: Representation Hindrances to rapid increase of female MPs in the LDP Decentralized recruitment system (regional chapters have power). Women’s divisions do not have much influence on candidate selection. Women’s activists have not often run for office (it may be changing…).
- 9. Findings: Policy Making Under the 1955 regime, women and gender were issues of low salience. It provided a “ghettoized” space for experts on women’s issues to deliberate policies: a limited number of experts with a common perspective joined.
- 10. Findings: Policy Making Under the post-1993 regime, women and gender became more salient and controversial issues. Demographic crisis Backlash against “gender-free” education Womenomics policies The more participants join in the deliberations of women’s policies, the more diverse perspectives (including anti-feminist ones) are presented.
- 11. Concluding remarks Changes A new initiative for policy making by women’s divisions inside the party. A growth of number and expertise of female MPs. Enlarged space in the party for deliberating women’s policies. Continuity Decentralized organizational structure and policy making procedures Ideological diversity of members (men and women)
- 12. Thank you for your attention.
Notas del editor
- My name is Yuki Tsuji. I teach political sociology at Tokai University.
- Topic of my chapter is women and the LDP. Why I chose this topic? First, the LDP is a main cause for Japan’s low score of female political representation. The very small number of female representatives in the LDP demonstrates that the LDP has been a ‘masculine’ party. However, there are many women who have supported, voted for, and acted for the LDP. If women have not cast their votes for the LDP, LDP could not have occupied the position of governing party for more than fifty years. In addition, there are activist women inside the LDP who work joined local party organization and worked hard to support election campaigns of LDP candidates. In spite of that, women in the LDP have been invisible figures in the studies of political science in general and also in the research of women/gender and politics. Nobody, including journalists, has investigated their roles and influence in maintaining LDP’s dominance over Japanese party system. This chapter is a effort to fill this gap.
- This chapter asks two questions. First, what are women’s roles and influence in the LDP? I examine them from 3 dimensions, i.e., mobilization, representation, and policy making. The second question is, have they changed? I overviewed the longer-term change of women’s roles and influence, by comparing LDP women under 1955 regime and under post-1993 regime.
- I examined women’s roles and influences from three dimensions. In terms of mobilization, my focus is on women’s divisions established in party’s regional chapters as well as female party activists. I asked who are these women, what they do, and how they feel about their action, by making a few interviews and reading women’s magazines published by the party. In terms of representation, this chapter focused on national parliament, and investigated female MPs’ professional careers before they become politicians. In terms of policy making, I reviewed what kinds of issues related to women have been discussed and who are the participants of policy making both inside the party and in the LDP-led government.
- Here are selected findings. Core members of women’s divisions in regional chapters: married women in their 50s and beyond. Female party activists were opinion leaders among women in communities. Some hold several posts outside the party, such as leaders of women’s community organizations, leaders of owomen’s sections of the JAS (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives), and local welfare commissioners. Because they can call upon the face-to-face networks they maintained in the local communities, their contributions during electoral campaigns were considered enormous.
- There are several new initiatives of women’s divisions under the post-1993 regime. Women’s divisions began collecting voices of members and proposing policies on family and children for party platform in the mid 2000s. 1994 election rule change has facilitated cooperation and solidarity among female party activists and has also cultivated stronger partisanship of them, because the introduction of single-member district has encouraged rivalry between political parties rather than between individual candidates.
- With regard to representation, I found A slow but steady increase in the number of of female LDP MPs and the growing diversity of their professional background. Spouses/daughters of male MPs local assembly members, bureaucrats, lawyers, doctors/nurses, teachers/professors, economists, journalists, business.
- With regard to representation, I found a slow but steady increase in the number of of female LDP MPs and the growing diversity of their professional background. Spouses/daughters of male MPs local assembly members, bureaucrats, lawyers, doctors/nurses, teachers/professors, economists, journalists, business. Hindrances to rapid increase of female MPs in the LDP Decentralized recruitment system (power of regional chapters). Women’s divisions do not have much influence on candidate selection. Women’s activists have not often run for office. (although it may be changing due to the new legislation last year to encourage political parties to recruit more women as official candidates…)
- In terms of policy making, Under the 1955 regime, women and gender were issues of low salience. It provided a “ghettoized” space for experts on women’s issues to deliberate policies: a limited number of experts with a common perspective joined. Under the post-1993 regime, women and gender became more salient and controversial issues. It has both positive and negative effects from a feminist perspective. First, quite a few LDP politician, including male and female MPs, are involved in backlash against “gender-free” education. On the other hand, Abe government adopted womenomics approach and several committees are established to deliberate women’s policies inside the LDP. In a word, the more participants join deliberation of women’s policies, the more diverse perspectives (including anti-feminist ones) are presented.
- Under the post-1993 regime, women and gender became more salient and controversial issues. It has both positive and negative effects from a feminist perspective. First, quite a few LDP politician, including male and female MPs, are involved in backlash against “gender-free” education. On the other hand, Abe government adopted womenomics approach and several committees are established to deliberate women’s policies inside the LDP. In a word, the more participants join deliberation of women’s policies, the more diverse perspectives (including anti-feminist ones) are presented.
- There are observable changes in several aspects. A new initiative for policy making by women’s divisions inside the party. A growth of number and expertise of female MPs. Enlarged space in the party for deliberating women’s policies. LDP must have responded to social and political environment, such as demographic “crisis,” electoral rule change and party competition. They brought about internal transformation of the party towards gaining more gender balance at least in some respects. At the same time, however, many factors underly LDP’s male-centered party institutions. LDP’s decentralized organizational and policy-making procedures are likely to constrain impact of the above changes, such as an increase in female representatives. Also, ideological diversity of members are allowed, and quite a few members have presented, sexist, or anti-feminist perspectives officially. In sum, slowly but definitely, the LDP is changing, and we must keep investigating the direction and implication of change.