Japan’s “homogenous” power base - even the parliament’s less powerful upper house is 75 percent male - means lawmakers are “not tackling diverse social issues”, said Murakami Frenzel, whose father is a renowned activist investor. “We had assumed that women didn’t want to be politicians, but in fact, there just wasn’t enough support,” she said. She said the foundation has helped her build a network and better understand the “good and bad aspects of the political world”.įoundation chair Rei Murakami Frenzel, 28, was surprised so many people applied for the first programme, which ran from November to March. Saito, a social sciences student, initially didn’t know where to begin. High-profile examples of discrimination in Japan, such as the forced sterilisation of disabled people under a now-defunct eugenics law, strengthened her resolve. “I became interested in becoming a politician because I thought I could give hope to people with disabilities,” said Saito, who has had surgery for hearing loss.
The participants, chosen from 200 applicants, also receive a grant of one million yen ($7,400). The Tokyo-based foundation has organised a series of seminars by leading politicians for 20 women aged under 40 in a bid to address that imbalance. There are only two women in Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s 19-member cabinet, and parliament’s powerful 465-member lower chamber is 90 percent male. Once elected, female leaders in Japan face a tough environment, describing sexual harassment, chauvinist habits and ingrained views of government as a man’s world.Įven so, Saito, the youngest participant of the scheme run by the Murakami Family Foundation, told AFP the part-time programme had brought her “a step closer to my dream”. She is one of a small group of young women being offered mentoring and money to help them break into a political scene that remains utterly dominated by men. Women are a rare sight in Japanese politics, but 20-year-old Rinka Saito is determined to run for office one day because “you can’t have true democracy without diversity”.
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