Patriarchal Leadership and Women’s Exclusion from Democratic Institutions

Steele, Jackie F.; Miyake, Eriko

In this chapter, we focus on the status of women’s representation in Japan at national and local levels of government, notably by tracing women’s numerical presence or descriptive representation (Pitkin in The concept of representation. Atherton Press, New York, NY, 1967) in the postwar period. We discuss how gender bias against women manifests through micro and macro, socio-cultural and institutional, contexts of local and national politics, and, notably, the pervasive impact and hegemony of elite men’s social and political capital within electoral political and political party recruitment strategies. In particular, we explore the key gatekeeping mechanisms restricting women’s baseline access to political leadership and the absence of an equal playing field in Japanese politics. We discuss recent feminist activism in favor of diversifying decision-making within Japan and propose next steps for expanding the windows of opportunity for women’s political leadership.