Japan has a dismal record on gender equality and suffers from a lack of female role models.
A Koike versus Renho contest offers a chance for changeRenho Saito , an upper house lawmaker from the CDPJ, threw her hat into the ring on May 27, which would pit her against Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
Tokyo, it’s often said, is Japan and Japan is Tokyo. The extreme concentration of political, corporate power and entertainment industry power means the governor of Japan’s premier metropolis is considered second in stature only to the prime minister. Ms Koike, 71, has long been both a trailblazer and a maverick. In 2007, when she was an LDP member, she served as Japan’s first female defence minister. In 2008, she launched a bid for the premiership, a first by a Japanese woman. Then in 2016, she shocked her former party by running for Tokyo governor, beating the LDP’s preferred candidate.Since then, Ms Koike seems to have staked out a place as a political unicorn, given Japan’s poor record on gender equality.
Renho argues that Tokyo voters crave a “reset” of Ms Koike’s priorities. Though Ms Koike is technically independent, Renho claims she’s propping up an out-of-touch political establishment.“It’s my mission to take the lead in resetting the Tokyo government led by Koike, who is a helping hand in the LDP’s survival,” Renho told a news conference.
The contest comes as Mr Kishida is under growing pressure to raise the nation’s competitive game at a time when both he and the ruling LDP are struggling with the effects of the funding scandal. Hiswhile the LDP recently lost a closely watched election for the governorship of Shizuoka prefecture as well as three parliamentary seats in special elections in April.
In late 2012, the LDP made “womenomics” a centrepiece of plans to reinvigorate the economy and end deflation. Then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mr Kishida’s mentor, promised to pull more women into the labour force and prod companies to promote women to executive positions and board seats. Sadly, it was more about photo ops than substance.
Yet Mr Kishida, a former foreign minister himself, hasn’t let Ms Kamikawa do the job, bigfooting her on top global issues. Importantly, Japan has never entrusted a woman to jobs that matter most to a nation obsessed with its economic status: finance minister, chief Cabinet secretary or Bank of Japan governor.
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