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Women in the National Diet of Japan: the Reasons of Under-Representation

Student: Guzieva Ekaterina

Supervisor: Ivan Grigoriev

Faculty: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences

Educational Programme: Political Science (Bachelor)

Final Grade: 10

Year of Graduation: 2019

Japan is an interesting case for the researches in the field of women's political representation: despite the high level of socio-economic development, the representation of women in various political bodies in Japan lags behind not only developed but also many developing countries. This study aims to identify and explain the reasons for the under-representation of women in the National Diet of Japan (Kokkai), in the House of representatives (Shūgiin) in particular. The Parliament is the main legislative body of the state. According to the representation theory the presence of women there is crucial for democracies. Existing studies show that the low presence of women in parliaments can be explained by many interrelated factors. Based on the analysis of these papers, this study identifies four possible explanations for under-representation in the lower house of Japanese Diet: the absence of an agenda of gender inequality in the society, the low level of women's economic involvement, the underdevelopment of women's social movements, the unfavorable structure of Parliament and the rules of the political game that are not inclusive. Discussion and analysis of these factors occurs in the framework of the process tracing with the use of different sources of information: government statistics and calculations of consulting companies, world rankings, economic data bases, reports of organizations, social networks, etc. Special focus is made on the cultural component to get a more complete contextual picture considering the different sides of Japanese reality. As a result, the underrepresentation of women in the lower house is explained by political factors, namely the non-inclusive rules of the political game, which place too strict barriers for women, as well as the passivity of the state to overcome this problem.

Full text (added May 15, 2019)

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