By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Jun 12 1999 (IPS)

Special badges that can be stuck to dresses, new registers that record women’s maiden names, pastel-shaded powder rooms, even the installation of extra toilets — these are changes that male-dominated local government bodies in Japan are making these days.

To women activists and politicians, these mark not just a new fad, but are symbols of a revolution in Japanese politics.

More and more women, as shown in recent local polls, are breaking into the traditionally male arena of politics.

“Indeed the signs are showing that women are making inroads into one of the least contested gender sectors in our country,” said an enthusiastic Kyo Nakata, a 46-year-old female assembly member and long-time advocate of more women politicians in Japan.

After decades of reticence based on a long history that supported the role of women as home makers rather than decision makers, women are indicating sweeping changes by saying they have had enough of this gender-based divisions.

According to figures compiled by the Prime Minister’s Office, in the eighties the figure of female candidates in local government elections were just 4 percent of the total field.

Today, only 5 percent of the Japanese Diet is occupied by women. “I don’t exactly enjoy being the only woman in the Cabinet,” admits Seiko Noda, Japan’s 37-year-old posts and telecommunications minister.

Yet in April and May, women’s groups say, the country’s unified local elections proved that there are women who are ready to change the picture.

In those elections the highest number of female candidates ever recorded — 3,065 or 7.6 percent of the total, ran for seats. A total of 2,381 claimed victory.

Among the winners were Tokyo’s first female mayor, and the nation’s fourth — 49-year-old Hiroko Uehara, who was elected mayor of the bustling town of Kunitachi, at the end of April.

The victory of many women candidates is made all the more dramatic by the fact they ran mostly on independent platforms or groups affiliated with the Communist Party.

“Winning at the local elections is always difficult for women because people are more conservative in local areas,” explains Nakata.

Likewise, the defeat of male politicians despite the support they get from large political parties is an indication of how important community welfare is for the electorate, explain analysts.

Kimiko Kubo, who works at the Fusae Ichikawa Memorial Association Centre which deals with the empowerment of women, explains that issues such as welfare, the aged, education and environment protection, are becoming major considerations — and no longer ‘soft issues’ for voters.

“As a result more people are voting for women. They believe that women are best at handling these issues because it is women who take care of the aged and look after their children,” she explains.

Most of the women who won are not celebrities but housewives who belong to small citizen groups working for improving living standards and support for women.

In contrast, wrote the daily newspaper ‘Tokyo Shimbun’ in March, male-dominated local governments still promote public works projects — a sector that has close links to big businesses and do not necessarily improve people’s daily lives.

Nakata, who belongs to Matsudo town, part of Chiba, a bustling suburb on the fringes of Tokyo, has won three times in the local elections has long fought for a larger budget to support public care for the elderly.

Three out of the seven candidates who won seats in the Matsudo assembly were women, all running on promises of welfare reform. The Chiba city assembly saw its women female members increase from seven to 12, the highest figure ever.

Apart from focusing on social welfare, the entry of more women into policies has definitely given greater avenue for the promotion of greater gender equality.

Ruefully, Nakata recounts how that a few years ago, it was not even considered rude by male assembly members to ask their female counterparts to describe the colour of their underwear.

“That’s the way we were treated. But as our numbers grow, we are telling assemblymen they must learn how to respect us and we are getting a better response,” she points out.

In May, three women made it to the assembly of Ehime Prefecture in east Japan, the first ever to the local government.

As a result, the assembly has ordered new badges to be made by assembly members, since the current ones were made for men and can only be used on the lapels of men’s coats.

And now that they are in the halls of power, women are demanding the respect their deserve and are no longer putting up with inequalities that had been assumed and accepted in the past.

A group of assembly women are proposing that women in the secretariat be relieved from their old duties to serve tea.

Says Etsuko Takeuchi of Citizen’s Network: “If a person wants to drink tea, then that person should make tea and serve himself or herself.”

Excerpt:

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Jun 8 1999 (IPS)

Special badges that can be stuck to dresses, new registers that record women’s maiden names, pastel-shaded powder rooms, even the installation of extra toilets — these are changes that male-dominated local government bodies in Japan are making these days.

To women activists and politicians, these mark not just a new fad, but are symbols of a revolution in Japanese politics.

More and more women, as shown in recent local polls, are breaking into the traditionally male arena of politics.

“Indeed the signs are showing that women are making inroads into one of the least contested gender sectors in our country,” said an enthusiastic Kyo Nakata, a 46-year-old female assembly member and long-time advocate of more women politicians in Japan.

After decades of reticence based on a long history that supported the role of women as home makers rather than decision makers, women are indicating sweeping changes by saying they have had enough of this gender-based divisions.

According to figures compiled by the Prime Minister’s Office, in the eighties the figure of female candidates in local government elections were just 4 percent of the total field.

Today, only 5 percent of the Japanese Diet is occupied by women. “I don’t exactly enjoy being the only woman in the Cabinet,” admits Seiko Noda, Japan’s 37-year-old posts and telecommunications minister.

Yet in April and May, women’s groups say, the country’s unified local elections proved that there are women who are ready to change the picture.

In those elections the highest number of female candidates ever recorded — 3,065 or 7.6 percent of the total, ran for seats. A total of 2,381 claimed victory.

Among the winners were Tokyo’s first female mayor, and the nation’s fourth — 49-year-old Hiroko Uehara, who was elected mayor of the bustling town of Kunitachi, at the end of April.

The victory of many women candidates is made all the more dramatic by the fact they ran mostly on independent platforms or groups affiliated with the Communist Party.

“Winning at the local elections is always difficult for women because people are more conservative in local areas,” explains Nakata.

Likewise, the defeat of male politicians despite the support they get from large political parties is an indication of how important community welfare is for the electorate, explain analysts.

Kimiko Kubo, who works at the Fusae Ichikawa Memorial Association Centre which deals with the empowerment of women, explains that issues such as welfare, the aged, education and environment protection, are becoming major considerations — and no longer ‘soft issues’ for voters.

“As a result more people are voting for women. They believe that women are best at handling these issues because it is women who take care of the aged and look after their children,” she explains.

Most of the women who won are not celebrities but housewives who belong to small citizen groups working for improving living standards and support for women.

In contrast, wrote the daily newspaper ‘Tokyo Shimbun’ in March, male-dominated local governments still promote public works projects — a sector that has close links to big businesses and do not necessarily improve people’s daily lives.

Nakata, who belongs to Matsudo town, part of Chiba, a bustling suburb on the fringes of Tokyo, has won three times in the local elections has long fought for a larger budget to support public care for the elderly.

Three out of the seven candidates who won seats in the Matsudo assembly were women, all running on promises of welfare reform. The Chiba city assembly saw its women female members increase from seven to 12, the highest figure ever.

Apart from focusing on social welfare, the entry of more women into policies has definitely given greater avenue for the promotion of greater gender equality.

Ruefully, Nakata recounts how that a few years ago, it was not even considered rude by male assembly members to ask their female counterparts to describe the colour of their underwear.

“That’s the way we were treated. But as our numbers grow, we are telling assemblymen they must learn how to respect us and we are getting a better response,” she points out.

In May, three women made it to the assembly of Ehime Prefecture in east Japan, the first ever to the local government.

As a result, the assembly has ordered new badges to be made by assembly members, since the current ones were made for men and can only be used on the lapels of men’s coats.

And now that they are in the halls of power, women are demanding the respect their deserve and are no longer putting up with inequalities that had been assumed and accepted in the past.

A group of assembly women are proposing that women in the secretariat be relieved from their old duties to serve tea.

Says Etsuko Takeuchi of Citizen’s Network: “If a person wants to drink tea, then that person should make tea and serve himself or herself.”

Excerpt: