/REPEAT/RIGHTS-JAPAN: Women Chip Away at Male Domination of Politics

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jan 19 2001 (IPS) - The first thing Akiko Higuchi did when she took over as mayor of Hasuda city north of Tokyo in 1997 was to create a new department with an unusual name — “window for voices of the people”.

That does not sound like a government department at all, but the 56-year-old Higuchi says she wanted to have a mechanism to allow the people in the town of 56,000 people to say what they need.

“The new section represents the essence of my campaign and victory,” explains the demure but resilient woman, who is Hasuda’s first female mayor and only the fourth woman mayor in Japan.

“As a woman and a person who worked tirelessly for community development, I promised voters not big projects for Hasuda, but small contributions that represented their wishes,” said Higuchi, one of at least five women officials in Japan nominated for awards at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Summit of Women Mayors and Councillors.

The summit, organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), will be held in Manila, the Philippines later this year.

Higuchi was a voluntary worker for decades before she entered the traditionally male arena of politics. She threw out an incumbent male leader who was seeking a third term and was backed by the powerful and rich Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Higuchi’s priorities reflect the differences that Japanese say come with having women in political office.

A survey of Japanese women politicians for the Asia-Pacific summit of women officials, quoted in the country report for that meeting, said that women are more interested in the environment, child care, education, and caring of aged persons “which directly relate to citizens’ daily lives”.

“On the other hand, men were more interested in city planning, such as construction, maintenance and planning of water supply, sewer, roads as well as urban development,” said the report.

“People feel more trustworthy toward policies which have been undertaken by female politicians, who implement policies by their perspective as ordinary grassroots people,” it added.

In an interview, Higuchi recalls: “I clearly said no to any kind of support from the LDP or other major parties. I fiercely protected my independence, depending instead on my own savings and small contributions from ordinary supporters. I think this stance was a major part of my success.”

Higuchi joins a small band of women, most of them running as independents, who are slowly making inroads into politics and changing a political scene dominated by men.

According to an Inter-Parliamentary Union survey in September 2000, Japan ranks 23rd among 24 developed countries in women’s representation. Women politicians comprise a total of 79, or just over 10 percent, in the 732-seat Japanese Diet or Parliament.

Japan ranks a poor 41st among 139 countries ranked by gender empowerment in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report this year.

Women representation is poor in rural areas, where 56.1 percent of town and village assemblies have no female representation. Also, 10.1 percent of city assemblies have no female members.

Still, the number of women in public office is the highest since 1947 when the Constitution was put in place.

Kimiko Kubo of the Ishikawa Fusae Memorial Association, which gives training who wish to run for local posts, says that voter turnout among women is higher than that of men, but that the decision to run in local or national elections is a different issue for women.

Often, women do not have the support of family members because of traditional beliefs that their first responsibility is the family, and that they are not fit for the political arena.

“There is still a long way to go before we gain gender equality in politics, but I am expecting a rapid change as the current environment cannot be more conducive to higher participation by women,” says Keiko Hashimoto, professor of international studies at Jumonji University.

Hashimoto is also a former representative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of the Asia-Pacific (ESCAP).

Analysts point out that female politicians have become more popular because they represent a break from traditional pork- barrel politics.

Indeed, successful female politicians have based their campaigns on slogans on better welfare and environment protection, rather than expensive infrastructure or steps to improve business.

Recent victories include Hiroko Mizushima, a 32-year-old former psychiatrist, who ousted a senior LDP politician in Tochigi-ken in a Lower House election in June. Her major campaign pledges included one to make the community a safer place for children.

Harue Kitamura, 60, became Japan’s first mayor when she won the seat nine years ago in Ashiya, Osaka prefecture. She promised to improve the status of women by increasing their participation in municipal and local governance.

Even the male-oriented LDP — which views positive action for female candidates “discrimination” against male candidates — has begun seeing the merits of pushing more women into politics.

The LDP’s appointment of a woman, Fusae Ota, as candidate for the Osaka governorship, is a clear example of the party’s wanting to win back popularity. Ota is a former bureaucrat who took over when the former governor resigned after a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Higuchi reports that suggestions from her constituency have led to the creation of a 24-hour fax service for people to give feedback, calls for aid for non-profit organisations, and projects to ease women’s burden.

A big success has been the setting up of a family-support system, where working women can leave their children with elderly families when they have to work late.

“A lot of these projects follow requests from women which I personally followed,” she explained.

Still, the going is tough. Higuchi says the biggest barrier to women’s greater political role is their lack of self-confidence, as a result of traditional values that expect women to look after the family and home.

The country report for the Asia-Pacific women leaders’ summit quotes Higuchi as saying people tend to say that “if something goes wrong, it is because I am a female mayor. However, any male mayors have never received such comments that being a male mayor, he can’t handle it.”

“My goal is to have women representing 30 percent of local politics in Hasuda,” she explained. “That might take longer than expected.”