- Convenor:
-
Naoko Oki
(Sugiyama Jogakuen University)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Miyako Hayakawa
(Université Libre de Bruxelles)
- Discussants:
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Yuki Tsuji
(Tokai University)
Mijin Kim (Daito Bunka University)
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Politics and International Relations
Short Abstract
In October 2025, Japan elected its first female Prime Minister, drawing renewed attention to women’s organizations and gender equality. This panel examines how such organizations empower women in local politics and support their political participation and leadership.
Long Abstract
In 2025, the Japanese Diet elected its female Prime Minister for the first time in eighty years since the introduction of women’s suffrage. While this historic development has symbolic significance, it also highlights the persistent underrepresentation of women in Japanese politics. Despite repeated governmental commitments, as most recently articulated in the Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality (2021–2025) and the Intensive Policy for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women 2025, the proportion of women in the Diet and local assemblies remains among the lowest in comparative perspective.
These policy papers emphasize expanding women’s participation at decision-making levels across all sectors and call for the creation of platforms that foster political ambition, capacity building, and networking among women. However, the gap between formal policy objectives and empirical outcomes raises critical questions about the mechanisms through which women gain access to political institutions in Japan.
Since the late 1980s, women’s organizations and movement groups have played a central role in addressing this gap. Beyond advocating for gender-equality policies, these organizations have actively supported women seeking elected office through training programs, informal mentoring, electoral assistance, and network-building across civil society and political actors. However, systematic analysis of how such organizations function as intermediaries between women and political institutions, particularly at the local level, remains limited in Japanese political science scholarship.
This panel examines how women’s organizations construct networks and empower women to enter and remain in political decision-making processes, with a focus on local politics. Drawing on case studies from municipalities and prefectures, the panel explores organizational strategies such as candidate recruitment, leadership development, peer support, and coalition-building. It also considers the structural and institutional constraints these organizations face, including electoral systems, party gatekeeping, and gendered norms of political participation.
By foregrounding women’s organizations as political actors rather than merely advocacy groups, this panel contributes to broader debates in gender and politics, representation, and civil society. It aims to clarify the conditions under which women’s organizations can effectively translate gender-equality norms into substantive political representation and to assess their role in reshaping pathways to political power in contemporary Japan.
| Abstract in Japanese (if needed) |
Accepted papers
Paper short abstract
This article examines how women’s organizations in Japan vary in political values, party support, and elite access. It finds that while these groups increasingly support progressive gender equality, their political engagement has shifted toward closer ties with Liberal Democratic Party.
Paper long abstract
Since the 1990s, the political environment surrounding the women’s movement in Japan has undergone substantial transformation. Landmark legislative developments—such as the enactment of the Basic Act for a Gender-Equal Society in 1999 and the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace in 2015—are sometimes cited as significant achievements attributable to the advocacy efforts of these organizations. At the same time, however, scholars and activists have raised critical concerns regarding the institutionalization of feminist claims, suggesting that the movement itself has become embedded within state structures, thereby losing its oppositional character and evolving into what has been termed “state feminism.” This article focuses on variation within the women’s movement itself, and examines what kinds of values and conceptions of equality women's organizations hold, which political elites they engage with to realize their policy goals, and how these patterns of engagement have shifted over time. By analyzing survey data on party support and access to political elites, this article reveals that, on the one hand, women’s organizations have increasingly embraced more progressive understandings of gender equality in terms of values. On the other hand, their patterns of elite engagement have shifted toward greater interaction with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). By tracing these changes from 1980 to 2018, the chapter sheds light on the evolving nature of feminist political engagement in Japan, as well as the broader implications of institutionalization for social movements operating within democratic contexts.
Paper short abstract
In Japan, where a voluntary party quota, a less enforceable quota system, has been implemented, the share of women in local assemblies has shown a steady increase. This paper examines the non-quota strategies and support mechanisms that empower women who run for and remain in local assemblies.
Paper long abstract
Gender equality in local government has become a central issue in political science, particularly in the context of efforts to enhance women’s representation in decision-making processes worldwide. In Japan, since the enactment of the Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field in 2018, which is categorized as a voluntary party quota in the Gender Quota Database of the IDEA, political parties have been encouraged to promote gender balance among candidates for both national and local elections. The Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality (2021-2025) articulates a governmental commitment to advancing women’s participation in decision-making processes at all levels, including the establishment of a numerical target of the proportion of women in nationwide local elections set for 35% by 2025. Additionally, the Intensive Policy for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women 2025 seeks to provide platforms and networking opportunities to women who aspire to enter politics. In Japan, only a voluntary political party gender quota, a less enforceable quota, has been implemented. However, the proportions of female candidates and women elected in the nationwide election in 2023 reached record highs, 19.2% and 19.9% respectively, though still falling short of the government’s target. Notably, prefectural assembly-member elections witnessed an increase in women elected as Independents, including members of women’s groups advocating for enhancing women’s representation in local assemblies. Electoral campaigns for prefectural assemblies remain party-centered due to the majoritarian system with single- and medium-sized districts. The purpose of this paper is to classify the types and mechanisms of empowering women who run for and remain in prefectural assemblies by analyzing the survey data on support based on non-quota strategies available to women who successfully won seats in prefectural assemblies with backing from women’s groups and political parties.
Paper short abstract
This paper analyzes youth-oriented women’s organizations that address gender gaps in local politics, examining how they operate as intermediaries to promote political participation and constitute grassroots responses to gender inequality in Japan.
Paper long abstract
This paper examines the role of women’s organizations as intermediaries in enhancing political participation in Japan, with particular attention to youth-oriented groups that seek to address the persistent gender gap in politics. Despite longstanding policy commitments to gender equality, women—especially young women—remain significantly underrepresented in both national and local political institutions. This gap is especially pronounced at the local level, where political careers often begin but institutional and social barriers continue to limit women’s entry.
Focusing on grassroots organizations that support young women interested in political engagement, this paper analyzes how such groups function as bridges between individuals and political institutions. These organizations provide resources that are often absent from formal political channels, including political education, leadership training, peer mentoring, and opportunities for networking. By lowering the costs of political participation and fostering collective identities, women’s organizations play a critical role in cultivating political ambition and sustaining engagement among young women.
Drawing on qualitative case studies of youth-oriented women’s organizations in local political contexts, the paper explores the strategies these groups employ to promote participation, including candidate recruitment, campaign support, and advocacy aimed at transforming gendered norms of political leadership. It also examines the constraints these organizations face, such as limited access to political parties, institutionalized age and gender biases, and the precarity of volunteer-based activism.
By conceptualizing women’s organizations as political intermediaries rather than solely advocacy actors, this paper contributes to broader debates on gender and political participation, civil society, and representation. It argues that youth-focused women’s organizations constitute a strategic grassroots response to gender inequality in Japanese politics, particularly by expanding pathways for young women’s entry into local decision-making processes. In doing so, the paper highlights the importance of civil society actors in reshaping the conditions under which political participation becomes possible for historically underrepresented groups.