Women and Politics in Contemporary Japan

Emma Dalton is a Lecturer in the Japanese Studies Research Institute of Kanda University of International Studies, Japan.

• Introduction 1. Women, Power and Politics under LDP Rule: Gender Equity Discourses and Practices 1955-1993 2. Post-1993 Political Power Structures and Gender Equity Policies 3. Ambivalent Ambitions 4. The Importance of Women in Politics 5. Negotiating a Masculinised Party Culture Conclusion: The Failure of ‘Equality’ and the Possibility of Gender Quotas

"The chronic under-representation of women in Japanese politics is a fascination area of inquiry for political scientists, democratic theorists, and gender scholars interested in how supposedly 'neutral' democratic institutions get coopted by vested interests. As Emma dalton's research shows, male-dominated political parties such as Japan's Liberal Democractic Party (LDP) often explicitly reproduce legaices of political exclusion long after formal laws excluding women from electoral participation are overtrned. Combining institutionalism, discourse analysis, and experiential accounts of women parliamentarians, Dalton's book should be required reading for students interested in democratic institutions and citizenship in contemporary Japan."Jackie F. Steele, The University of Tokoyo, Pacific Affairs: Volume 91, No. 1 - March 2018