Japan eyes 35% quota for women political candidates by 2025
Source: Kyodo News
TOKYO - Japan will aim for a 35 percent quota for female parliamentary candidates by 2025, Cabinet Office officials have said, hoping that setting a concrete target will advance gender equality in the political realm.
Japan, which lags on the global stage in terms of gender equality and parity, aims to significantly increase female representation among lawmakers and civil servants, as well in managerial positions in private businesses, among others, in a plan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet will approve in December to revise the current goals.
Only 17.8 percent of candidates for the House of Representatives were women in the most recent elections in 2017. Although the election in 2019 for the House of Councillors fared slightly better, with female candidates making up 28.1 percent, it still fell below the 35 percent goal laid out in the newly revised plan.
Click here to read the full article published by Kyodo News on 28 November 2020.
TOKYO - Japan will aim for a 35 percent quota for female parliamentary candidates by 2025, Cabinet Office officials have said, hoping that setting a concrete target will advance gender equality in the political realm.
Japan, which lags on the global stage in terms of gender equality and parity, aims to significantly increase female representation among lawmakers and civil servants, as well in managerial positions in private businesses, among others, in a plan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet will approve in December to revise the current goals.
Only 17.8 percent of candidates for the House of Representatives were women in the most recent elections in 2017. Although the election in 2019 for the House of Councillors fared slightly better, with female candidates making up 28.1 percent, it still fell below the 35 percent goal laid out in the newly revised plan.
Click here to read the full article published by Kyodo News on 28 November 2020.