Election of Japan’s Next Leader Shows Women Have Made Little Progress
Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda are vying with two men to become prime minister against a backdrop of rising female unemployment and missed targets for gender diversity in management jobs.
Candidates for the selection of Japan’s next prime minister gather before a debate at the National Press Club in Tokyo on Sept. 18.
Photographer: Eugene Hoshiko/Pool/BloombergJapan’s ruling party is set to choose the country’s next prime minister on Sept. 29. Although the leading candidate is a man, in a historic twist of events two of the four contenders are women, signaling potential cracks in the country’s durable glass ceiling.
The candidacies of former internal affairs ministers Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda are significant because only once before in the Liberal Democratic Party’s 66-year history has a woman been able to line up the support of 20 fellow parliamentarians required to contest the leadership. That milestone was set by current Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in 2008.