October 22, 2021

Of candidates fielded by the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komei Party for the October 31 general election, women account for less than 10%, the lowest among nine political parties.

This indicates that the ruling parties have no intent to change the current situation in which the number of women participating in policy and decision-making processes is limited.

The LDP included 33 women in its candidate list. The Komei Party nominated four women as candidates. The proportion of women candidates to all candidates in the LDP and the Komei party is 9.8% and 7.5%, respectively. The LDP-Komei supplementary force, Nippon Ishin no Kai party endorsed 14 women candidates (14.6%). In contrast, the Japanese Communist Party fielded 46 women candidates, making up 35.4% of the party’s candidates, the top ranking among political parties.

The ongoing race is the first House of Representatives general election since the Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field came into effect in 2018 requiring political parties to field the same number of male and female candidates if possible.

In terms of the percentage of women parliamentarians, Japan ranks 166th out of 193 countries. The government in 2003 set a target of raising women's share in leadership positions to 30% by 2020, but failed to achieve this.

At a debate between political party heads which was hosted by the Japan National Press Club on October 18, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio provided no clear response when asked by reporters about the low ratio of women candidates.