After Sanae Takaichi took office as Japan's first woman prime minister, AFP spoke to some of her younger counterparts who called it a symbolic victory.
The three local councillors anticipate Takaichi's win will do little to shift the male-dominated world of politics or entrenched expectations that women will prioritize family over career.
'Get married'
After spending time away, Makoto Sasaki returned to her hometown Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, hoping to change local politics.
But as soon as she arrived, she was told by members of the public to focus on having a family.
"They said, 'You won't be able to get married if you work so hard'," Sasaki told AFP.
They also said I "wouldn't be a proper adult without giving birth", she recalled. "It was shocking."
In Japan, gender roles are rigid, with women usually expected to look after the home and family, even if they work.
As a result, women are grossly underrepresented at all political levels, as well as in business and media.
Last year, Sasaki ran for election, aged 27, and became one of 22 local councillors.
"Unless we start cutting into these larger societal structures -- like the gender gap, the division of household chores by gender, or care work -- (the number of women politicians) won't increase," she told AFP.
Takaichi, whose hero is Margaret Thatcher, had promised to appoint a cabinet with "Nordic" levels of women, but on Tuesday, she appointed just two, the same number as her predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba.
"My region, Iwate, has never had a female political leader, whether for governor or mayor," Sasaki said, emphasizing the magnitude of the problem in Japan, which ranked 118 out of 148 this year in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report.
Men older than 70 make up about half of Sasaki's council in Miyako, and there are just three women.
Juggling domestic labor
In the coastal city of Toba, Mie Prefecture, Chihiro Igarashi "worries constantly" about juggling her work as a councillor with caring for her two children, aged two and three.
"The belief that mothers are the ones who step in when children need them in an emergency remains deeply ingrained," said Igarashi, 37, stressing that her husband and in-laws fully support her.
For couples with children under six in Japan, women spend an average of seven hours and 28 minutes on housework, caregiving, childcare and shopping, while men spend 1 hour and 54 minutes, according to 2021 government data, the latest available.
Igarashi said she initially did not want Takaichi to be elected as prime minister because of her conservative policies, including opposition to same-sex marriage and support for a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname.
Takaichi also wants Japan's imperial family to stick to its male-only succession rules.
But equally, "her toughness is appealing... she must have made extraordinary efforts to reach the level," said Igarashi, one of two women councillors out of 13 in Toba.
"In my region, it's often civil servants, company executives or other locally well-known figures who become politicians," she said. "And they're all men."
Single mother stigma
Erika Tsumori, a 34-year-old councillor in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, wants women to be given a chance to work without the constraints of societal expectations and stigma.
As a mother of two raising her children alone, she was told during her campaign that she should try to hide her family dynamics.
"My city is conservative, so I was told (during the election) not to openly reveal that I was a single mother," she said.
"I was also told I was not a proper candidate as I wore dangly earrings," she added, explaining that people saw them as too casual.
Tsumori believes Takaichi's win is a "symbolic victory" but that the situation is changing, with the number of women candidates growing.
In 2024, just over 23 percent of candidates who ran in the election for the powerful lower house were women, compared with nearly 18 percent in 2017 and 13 percent in 2005, according to official data.
Eventually, said Tsumori, "there will surely be more women politicians."
© 2025 AFP
38 Comments
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sakurasuki
Few years ago there was female parliament member who brought babies to her work place as result her coworker yelling at her. Still wondering why Japan has population decline problem?
https://www.bbc.com/japanese/42107326
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ffr6QDN4SQ
https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/11/24/566367004/japanese-lawmakers-baby-gets-booted-from-the-floor
tora
Ms. Sasaki, unfortunately your local constituents are actually statistically correct. You're 27, shinle and childless. Keep focusing on your career and you probably won't have the time to find a husband and have a family. It's called biology.
I think your constituents worry about the reality that in a few years places like Iwate won't have any young women left, since they all basically leave to go to Tokyo to focus on their careers.
They probably shouldn't have been so "politically" correct and told it to your face though.
Garthgoyle
Japan, Land of the Lost (dinosaurs movie).
And I don't think that's gonna change anytime soon, even with a female PM. I wonder if she'll last more than a full year.
jeffb
It is absolutely the case that Japanese women ought to get married and have children. Declining native population is the single greatest issue in Japan. It is quite literally an existential crisis.
obladi
Sanae Takaichi might be too conservative for my taste, but she has broken through the glass ceiling. Hopefully many more women will follow.
BigP
Regardless, of your sex. The main question is “Do you have the ability?”
Garthgoyle
Yes but it takes both male and female to conceive a baby. Guys are not getting women pregnant either.
The reason people are deciding not to have children is not more women opting to work rather than staying home. It's financial reasons and bad economy. Plus less young Japanese are interested in pursuing a relationship (both male & female), or Japanese guys don't know how to approach a woman, etc.
In fact, if women were to have more kids (plural), it is very normal to needing two salaries in the household in order to stay afloat these days.
IMadeAnAccountJustForThis
On the other hand, if she fails it might be used by the fossils in parliament that 'women don't make good ministers.'
I hope many lore women follow. I also hope they are able to balance work and family. I also hope more young people take an interest in how politics works and finally I hope that politicians start looking out for the country and people they're meant to be serving. Not themselves.
A lot of hope, but I'm a positive thinking person ;)
tora
You'll find that the number of children a woman has across her life time has not changed much at all, for those who have children.
What has changed is the number of women who remain completely childless. And it's an accelerating trend worldwide.
But speak to most young women and they actually want children. Only in their 30s after they have got their careers started. That's leaving things a bit late.
Aly Rustom
Takaichi, whose hero is Margaret Thatcher, had promised to appoint a cabinet with "Nordic" levels of women, but on Tuesday, she appointed just two, the same number as her predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba.
Figures. Expect a flurry of false promises. She's Abe in lipstick and heels. Remember Abe's "pledges"? How many times did he pledge and never deliver? Well, Sanae will promise and promise and not deliver so don't pay so much attention to what she says.
John-San
It true that Females have to work hard in Japan’s male dominated politics. I would say many times harder than their male counterparts. Females unlike males have thé ability to work many areas of daily life suscessfully at the same time and known for this ability. The only reason why female have not dominated Japan politics is not that they don’t have the ability. It is they choose not too. Part of this reason is males tell them they don’t have the abilities which totally false. By the way one of Abe pledges was to allow females to take positions of higher status which were reserved for males. With Abe pushing for the above Japan would not have a female Prime Minister.
Negative Nancy
Poor women, they really do have a tough time of it don't they? Maybe stop making your sex your whole personality and get on with the job!
Chico3
Leave her alone. She seems happy going after her success. This is the present time and she is an adult. Who cares if she can't be able to marry later in life. She will be the judge of that. Leave her alone and let her live her life.
marc laden
Takachi welcomes all the foreigners .... Very good news
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ywFmwoGVA
Yrral
I do.not know why anyone would want to be in unemotional loveless marriage and the miserable life for all involved
Concerned Citizen
What better and more glorious calling in life is there than to be a mother? Politicians come and go, but our mothers will always be special to us. "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World." -William Ross Wallace 1865.
WoodyLee
It Is Never Too Late, I hope Mrs. Takaichi will bring more women into politics and defeat all these stone heads who still think women belong in the kitchens.
Redtail Swift
Prime Minister Takaichi is correct. This society is correct. Women need to focus on creating family.
First of all, they should consider it an honor. You are blessed with the ability to give birth. That is the epicenter of all civilization. Furthermore, it is your biological duty to birth children. Avoiding this responsibility is one of the reason women pass away earlier or suffer from physical and mental diseases.
A woman's place is in the kitchen, in the living room, in the bedroom, in the home. You are welcome to check ChatGPT and better learn the word "Oku"-san. Politics is a speaking game and "Oto"-san is busy with such things. Men are the caretakers, the breadwinners. Men are the ones that subsidise all the things in your life.
Politik Kills
Takaichi’s
Her husband’s name is Taku Yamamoto.
Takaichi / Yamamoto; they don’t seem to be the same surname. Does this mean she’s a hypocrite? Or a liar?
Yrral
She thinks women belong in a kitchen, beside herself,she is not a states person like Maize Hirono would be a true representation of Japanese women and all women of the world,she is smart educated and morally ethical
Yubaru
Takaichi is sadly a prime example of what confronts women in Japan. Women, like her are a huge part of the problem.
TorafusuTorasan
@Politik kills--probably less simple than that. I believe he agreed to legally change his name to Takaichi for their second go round. But as a public figure, he displays the defunct name that got him elected to the Diet.
Look at it like a comedian is known to 99 percent of the country as Bananaman, but nobody else in the family goes by that ridiculous stage name. Bananaman is just for the geinojin side of the performer, not for his family matters.
Nyan
In her early essays, she bragged about living wild and carefree about drinking and bed with many.
Now she preaches “traditional values” after spending a lifetime ignoring them. Irony really aged well.
Yubaru
Her husband took her last name after they remarried. She divorced the guy once.
Cephus
"In her early essays, she bragged about living wild and carefree about drinking and bed with many.
Now she preaches “traditional values” after spending a lifetime ignoring them. Irony really aged well."
Good to see morality police in full swing!!!
TorafusuTorasan
@Yubaru--Right. For the sake of accuracy, reporters from AFP etc. should explain the situation with his name change. The commenter HSE shared a rumor yesterday that her husband is seriously ill, and therefore not doing/saying much publicly.
Ricky Kaminski13
Don't know how long you guys have been here, but there has been a palpable change in the power structures of most companies in the last few decades, where women are being empowered to rise in the ranks, and many do. Most companies of any worth have heard the calling to promote them.
Have always found the ladies easier to work with, kinder, less inclined to expediency, more flexible, patient and definitely better communicators by their very nature. In fact, there's always been a bit of a background ally feeling, being a gaijin also trying to get a leg up in a system still tainted by the residues of the past. I know it's hard to see when you see the old codgers running the country in the political world, but I do suggest there has been some great progress made generally and often wonder if this gender gap that Japan gets bashed with so much is actually deserved.
The fact that many women still choose to opt out of the workforce and have a family should not be frowned upon either. Japan needs more healthy relationships and families that's for sure. Both are possible, I think Takaichi will recognise it too. She is, after all, a living example of what can be achieved.
Concerned Citizen
Well said @ricky kaminski13
Cephus
"The fact that many women still choose to opt out of the workforce and have a family should not be frowned upon either. Japan needs more healthy relationships and families that's for sure. Both are possible, I think Takaichi will recognise it too. She is, after all, a living example of what can be achieved."
Words of wisdom from a brilliant mind.
Redtail Swift
@Yubaru
I respectfully disagree. Prime Minister Takaichi is the SOLUTION!!! You are living in a country with a declining birthrate. The act of procreation is rite of passage into female adulthood.
Being a homemaker is NOT a badge of shame as some would have us believe. I'm referring to the extreme-feminist, a movement that will fail itself I might add. The rhetoric that their outlandish beliefs are founded on is outdated and doesn't reflect contemporary homemaking and education.
We men have provided women with all the creature comforts and subsidiaries they require. Automatic rice cookers, robot vacuums, hybrid washing machines, etc. I could go on. It's much much easier to take care of a home than ever before. Cooking is no longer a task. YouTube, Facebook Communities, a bounty of support and lines of communication for women to stay connected and continue their Education.
In summary, we don't need women in the workplace. They can do remote work. Memba that? Or did you forget the Pandemic? You want to go back to normal? Okay, let's get back to normal. Turn the birthrate around and take care of your husbands, your children.
Boy Next Door
Unfortunately, you can't. Didn't the new PM tell you to work, work, work, and work? Forget about work-life balance.
Nyan
@Yubaru,
Yes, that is why she is VERY unpopular among J women.
Aikokushin Senshi
The graph illustrating “women in national parliaments” appears to be selectively framed to cast Japan in a negative light. For a fairer representation, it should also encompass countries from the Middle East and Africa.
Yrral
Ricky,you saying all Japanese relationships are unhealthy
Ricky Kaminski13
??? Not in the slightest. Where would you get that from? I try to avoid using absolutes, always! Get it? Hehe ;)
TokyoLiving
Go Lady Takaichi, do your best for Japan !!!...
BigDog
Not a great way to write an article in a country that now has a female Prime Minister. Obviously not that rigid then.
SDCA
She could have promised to help promote more women to become politicians instead of promising to appoint "Nordic" levels of women in cabinet during her term. If you have for example 10,000 active politicians who are men and only 1,000 active politicians who are women, amongst those people only a handful are qualified to earn a promotion. If you want to appoint more women, you will need to have more active women politicians. Perhaps her being the PM can be a step towards getting more women to be interested in the political world. Just don't force something to meet a quota. Let the doors open naturally and we'll have a great balance within the cabinet.
That's interesting, but the biggest city in the country has a women political leader in Koike. So what is the problem? Perhaps start promoting more women to stay in Iwate to pursue a career in politics and have them go through the stress of bowing on top of senkyo trucks screaming in a microphone instead of moving to Tokyo to start their careers in whatever else is a better option.