Political scientist Mari Miura talks gender inequality in Japanese politics at Annenberg School

Political scientist and award-winning author Mari Miura spoke on Nov. 14 at the Annenberg School for Communication on challenges facing gender equality in a talk titled, “The Current Situation of Women’s Representation in Japan.”

The talk was hosted by the Center for East Asian Studies as part of its larger “Japan Global Issues Series.” Miura, who is a political science professor and law faculty member at Sophia University and a visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, spoke on the challenges facing gender equality in Japanese politics today. 

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As an author of several works on gender dynamics in politics and the co-founder of the Academy for Gender Parity, Miura drew on her experience with political research and activism for gender equality in Japan. In particular, she highlighted the role of institutional barriers in hindering gender parity in both the electoral system as well as within social norms. 

“First, you need to have a political will or political ambition to run, and because of gender socialization, it’s often the case that women lack confidence,” Miura said. “So women do not have the ambition to run for office, but men are more likely to self-nominate.” 

Miura also emphasized the nature of running for local office in Japan, which stresses commitment to the local district community. As such, she noted that support from one’s family-in-law was a crucial obstacle for many women seeking to participate in politics. 

“In local assemblies, it’s usually the case that 70% or 80% of local assembly men are born and grow up in the same district, but women often move into a new place for marriage,” Miura said. “So that means that they really have to care about their parents-in-law because their parents-in-law have a lot of social networks in the district.” 

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Sophie Eichelberger, a second-year East Asian languages and civilizations Ph.D. candidate, said that she appreciated the timeliness of the talk in light of the recent United States presidential elections. 

“It’s very topical with the American elections that just happened, and there’s been a lot of discourse I see about how American voters didn’t want to vote for a woman,” Eichelberger said. “It’s very interesting to think about how that gender bias plays out in the Japanese situation and the steps that academics and politicians are taking to make things more balanced.”

Jiayin Yuan, a second-year East Asian languages and civilizations Ph.D. candidate, emphasized the different ideas explored by Miura’s discussion of Japanese politics. 

“I think she’s bringing some very fresh perspectives on how the elections work in Japan,” Yuan said. “I think there are a lot of subtle differences that we don’t immediately recognize sometimes when we think about what politics look like and how voters react to these kinds of campaigns, especially when it comes down to female politicians.” 

Daniel Smith, an assistant professor of political science who moderated the event, said that he hoped Penn students would be able to focus Miura’s discussion of gender parity in Japanese politics in light of the United States’ own political scene. 

“There’s a lot of variation around the world in terms of women’s representation in democracies,” Smith said. “By learning about the experiences of Japan and other countries, it helps us to think of strategies and opportunities to increase women’s representation in the United States as well.”

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