The female mayor in Tokyo fighting Japan's sexist attitudes
Source: BBC
Satoko Kishimoto finds running one of Tokyo's main districts to be a lonely job.
Back in June, the 48-year-old became the first female mayor in the history of Suginami. The former environmental activist and democracy advocate managed to beat the conservative incumbent by just 200 votes - a shock win for an independent candidate with no experience holding public office.
Since then she has vowed to challenge the country's male-dominated politics. As things stand, she is one of only three female mayors in Tokyo's 23 main districts.
"We have to recognise as a national crisis this under-representation of women in politics," Ms Kishimoto said.
"Women's representation has stayed almost the same for 75 years. This is insane!"
Japan is the world's third largest economy, but it has an abysmal record when it comes to the gender gap index. In the most recent report released by the World Economic Forum in July 2022, Japan ranked 116th out of 146 countries.
Click here to read the full article published by the BBC on 7 March 2023.
Satoko Kishimoto finds running one of Tokyo's main districts to be a lonely job.
Back in June, the 48-year-old became the first female mayor in the history of Suginami. The former environmental activist and democracy advocate managed to beat the conservative incumbent by just 200 votes - a shock win for an independent candidate with no experience holding public office.
Since then she has vowed to challenge the country's male-dominated politics. As things stand, she is one of only three female mayors in Tokyo's 23 main districts.
"We have to recognise as a national crisis this under-representation of women in politics," Ms Kishimoto said.
"Women's representation has stayed almost the same for 75 years. This is insane!"
Japan is the world's third largest economy, but it has an abysmal record when it comes to the gender gap index. In the most recent report released by the World Economic Forum in July 2022, Japan ranked 116th out of 146 countries.
Click here to read the full article published by the BBC on 7 March 2023.