Sunday's general election in Japan looks set to be dominated by men once again as the country struggles to increase women’s participation in politics.
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00:00Makishima Karen is back on the campaign trail.
00:03She won her district outside Tokyo by a big margin back in 2021.
00:07But as a woman in Japanese politics, she's always going against the current.
00:12Every other candidate standing for this Sunday's national election here in Kanagawa Prefecture is a man.
00:18Makishima's Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, has promised a more gender-balanced future
00:23with a goal of 30% of lawmakers being women by 2033.
00:27Coming from the party that's long dominated Japanese politics, that's significant.
00:31But this year, women make up just 16% of its candidates,
00:35something the party says is due to a high number of incumbents.
00:38Makishima says there's work to be done.
00:57Social attitudes help explain why so few Japanese women run for office.
01:14Those that do win office often find politics to be an unfriendly place for them.
01:18A cabinet office survey of lawmakers found around 58% of women had been harassed,
01:23either by members of the public or colleagues.
01:27But Emma Dalton, a specialist in gender inequality in Japan,
01:31says another problem is the ruling LDP itself, despite its 30% goal.
01:36It's a catch-all political party, but it does represent a certain sector of the population,
01:44and that is an elite strata of men from certain families, from certain universities.
01:50There's no diversity, very little diversity in that political party.
01:54And there are economic reasons why women don't run, too.
01:57So women are quite poor in Japan.
02:00They're in low-paid jobs.
02:02They're in marginalized financial positions,
02:06which makes it very, very difficult to think, oh, I'll run for office.
02:09You have to be in a very privileged position,
02:12financially, economically, to decide to run for office.
02:16But back on the trail, Makishima Karen isn't discouraged.
02:19She's won before, and she thinks more women will win, too.
02:23Maybe not this election, but further on, as times change.
02:38That would be a big change in a country where just 10% of the lower house is made up of women,
02:43where just two women hold cabinet posts,
02:45and where women seeking office still face big obstacles.
02:49Joseph Wu and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.