Tokyo, 12 March, /AJMEDIA/
TOKYO – A fledgling group of young people with an interest in gender equality has been supporting women in their 20s and 30s who hope to run in unified local elections slated for this spring, with the aim of boosting the proportions of women among local assembly members in that age group to some 20% to 30% over the next four years.
With the assistance of the group, called “Fiftys Project,” a total of 28 women are preparing to throw their hats in the ring for the upcoming nationwide local government polls.
In the 1946 House of Representatives election, in which women exercised their right to vote for the first time in Japan, 39 women were elected to the chamber, accounting for 8.4% of all successful candidates. Yet in the 2021 lower house contest more than seven decades on, the proportion of female winners remained almost the same at 9.7%, with just 45 women securing seats.
According to the Global Gender Gap Index released by the World Economic Forum in 2022, Japan ranked 139th among 146 countries in the political sphere of the gender gap index, far below the global average.
Fiftys Project aims to first raise the number of female local assembly members, and leverage the increase to raise the proportion of female Diet lawmakers and eventually give rise to the first female prime minister of Japan.
The group approached women in their 20s through 30s who are considering running in the forthcoming unified local elections, and 28 individuals responded. The group has provided support to prospective candidates regardless of which political party they are running for. By party, eight of women are set to run on the ticket of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, three for the Japanese Communist Party, one for the Democratic Party for the People, one for the Seikatsusha Network of Tokyo, and 15 others are independents. They are poised to stand in local elections in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Mie, Kyoto, Hiroshima and other prefectures.
Launched in August 2022, Fiftys Project has organized study sessions and gatherings for prospective candidates. During the study sessions, instructors teach them how to deliver speeches, use social media and solicit volunteer campaign staffers, all in an easy-to-understand manner. The group has also provided opportunities for attendees to pose questions to incumbent politicians. During the gatherings with other aspiring candidates, participants shared their troubles and concerns through discussions.
Fiftys Project representative Momoko Nojo, 24, says she felt that gender equality awareness, even among political parties advocating the cause, has not thoroughly permeated local chapters. Nojo’s group has received consultations from a number of prospective female candidates. One of them, a woman officially backed by a political party, said, “A candidate set to run in the same electoral district as me is wary of me, assuming that I will deprive them of votes that would otherwise have gone to them, and is unhappy with my running for the election.”
Nojo commented, “Those on the ground are not keeping up with party headquarters’ strategies. We’d like to encourage women willing to run in elections.”
There are also cases of female candidates being sexually harassed by voters, and there are deep-seated expectations that female politicians will raise children and do household chores while performing their political activities as a matter of course.
Nojo feels there are major obstacles facing women seeking to become politicians. “I guess if the person were a man, they wouldn’t be so mentally worn out,” she said.
Nojo and others have created posters calling for election campaigns without harassment, providing information on consultation services and showing how people can support victims.
A 33-year-old woman looking to run in a ward assembly election commented, “It’s encouraging that there are opportunities to share minor misgivings and worries.” Another 30-year-old woman set to run in a separate ward said, “I’m grateful for the opportunities to talk with people who decided to run for election around the same time and share visions for a society we’d like to achieve.”
At an inaugural event for Fiftys Project in Tokyo on Jan. 29, prospective candidates shared their enthusiasm to some 130 people aged between 10 to 39 who took part in person and online. Nojo encouraged the audience to actively participate in politics by going to “real places” and supporting candidates they wanted to back.
If women supported by participants in the project get elected and work together, it is expected to lead to more female assembly members in the region. By generating a positive cycle, the group aspires to eliminate gender disparity in Japanese politics. It is set to hold training sessions for campaign volunteers and events around International Women’s Day on March 8 to inform them about unified local elections.
