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Abstract
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In 2016 in Japan, three women were appointed to politically powerful and historically significant positions. Koike Yuriko became the first female governor of Tokyo, Renho Murata became the leader of the opposition party, the Democratic Party, and Inada Tomomi became only the second
woman to lead the Ministry of Defence.
Despite these gains, the Japanese political world can be a hostile place for women. Japan's national legislative assembly has the lowest representation of women among OECD countries, and harassment of women in politics is common. Situating Japan's experience within the emergent violence against women in politics (VAWP) literature, I draw on a 2014 survey of women politicians about their experiences of sexual harassment and from interviews with individual women politicians to examine the extent and nature of sexual harassment in Japanese politics.
This is a 'hidden' problem due to ineffective legislation and a lack of awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment, even among politicians. I argue that the first step in combating sexual harassment of women in politics in Japan is to make it visible.
Key Messages
• Sexual harassment of women politicians in Japan is a serious issue, yet a mostly hidden one.
• The efficacy of Japan's anti sex-harassment legislation is curtailed by the nature of the law as well as by a culture of sexual exploitation of women and girls and a lack of awareness
of what constitutes sexual harassment, even among politicians.
Language: en |