March 8, 2024

Ahead of the International Women’s Day 2024, Japanese Communist Party members of the House of Councilors Kurabayashi Akiko (JCP vice chair), Iwabuchi Tomo, and Kira Yoshiko took part in a rally held in the Diet building on March 7, calling for a 50% share of women holding Diet seats.

Kurabayashi delivered a speech in greeting to the rally, stating that the JCP is seriously committed to achieving an equal number of male and female JCP Dietmembers.

A group working to promote women’s participation in politics and a gender quota system called “Q no Kai” organized this rally with about 140 people participating, including 62 lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties.

As of February 2024, the percentage of female legislators is 10.4% in the House of Representatives, 26.7% in the House of Councilors, 11.8% in prefectural assemblies, and 15.9% in municipal assemblies.

In an international comparison of the percentage of female parliamentarians, Japan ranks 164th out of 186 countries. A law which aims to equalize candidates between men and women, was enacted in Japan in 2018, but the law has no binding force.

Miura Mari, an advisor to the “Q no Kai” and Sophia University professor, at the rally stressed the need to amend the law in order to make it enforceable so that the equal number of male and female candidates will become mandatory.