Japan recently elected its first female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative and an advocate for traditional Japanese gender roles. What do traditional gender norms look like in practice in Japan, both socially and politically? How is this important context for interpreting Takaichi’s election?

Traditional Japanese gender norms are deeply tied to the longstanding commitment of women to the household. This emphasis on the household and its influence on gender norms presents itself in much of what Takaichi says and fits into how the Liberal Democratic Party has managed gender questions over time. While it may be increasingly common in urban communities to live in a nuclear family, there is still a longstanding tradition of being attached to one's household and even adjacent households. For example, the oldest son would have a family, and maybe the younger brothers’ families would be subservient to the elder brother’s household. This is not as applicable as it once was now that Japanese society has fewer children. Still, what is important historically is that gender is intrinsically tied to your specific role in the household. First and foremost, in a couple, the husband is a breadwinner, and after the Second World War this was true outside the home. Alternatively, the wife is the maintainer of the integrity of the home space. This is true even if she is earning some money or is employed to some extent outside the home. This conception of gender roles was still highly relevant when I was doing my research on housewives in Japan in the 1990s. For example, it was widely considered that a primary job of a wife is to keep the lights and heat on in the house so that the husband did not come home to a cold household. It is also notable for American audiences to consider that while the wife is in charge of the household, she was also in charge of managing the money that the husband brought in. At the end of the year, when bonuses came in, for example, it was common to see ads for banks or investment funds which were geared towards women. This shows how gender roles differ across countries, as women handling money is traditional in Japan and less so in America. 

What are some common challenges faced by women in the Japanese workplace? How have feminists in Japan responded to these barriers and how might discourse around Takaichi’s election correlate?

Returning to the notion that people are expected to act in accordance with their gendered family role, corporations have assumed that their primary relationship is with male workers, and that female workers need more flexibility. It is a nice way of saying that female workers can’t be trusted since they may request flexible hours due to the burden of the household. Perhaps they must care for children or elders. Maybe they need shorter days at work that are more manageable. These gendered considerations mean that women in the Japanese workplace are considered a liability. There are also elements of sociality that hold workplaces together, such as drinking culture after a day at work. It is common after securing a deal, or when meeting new clients, to go out drinking at the end of the day. Practices like these tend to be quite gendered, and even if male coworkers profess to be comfortable with women in the workplace, they may still be uncomfortable with women being in these social contexts. Finally, once women get past a certain age, it is difficult for them to stay on in a workplace or climb the corporate ladder, despite the fact more women receive four-year degrees than men.

Upon election Takaichi promised “Nordic levels” of female representation in her cabinet, but has only appointed two women. Did this surprise you? Is feminist backlash in Japan a potential threat to her credibility?

It does not surprise me at all. First of all, there are few women in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It is far from reality that half of elected officials are women, let alone within the LDP. There’s not a big pool for Takaichi to pick appointees from. Second, there are a lot of political debts that are paid when you make and shape a cabinet. Takaichi is acting in accordance with past LDP prime ministers, in that she is appointing cabinet members who held other positions in the party and are moving up to balance out factional differences. The historic and subtle nature of alignments within the fragmented LDP party are important considerations as she picks her cabinet. This is likely at the forefront of her mind. It is interesting that she placed Satsuki Katayama in a position of finance, which is a big deal for a woman. Historically, with very few exceptions, such as foreign minister Makiko Tanaka in the early 2000s, women were more likely to hold less important cabinet positions. But overall, Takaichi is adhering to the pattern the LDP consistently follows. They usually throw in a couple women, and Takaichi is doing this. Historically, Prime Ministers need to balance internal party battles. Women have not factored into those battles traditionally and are unlikely to now. In sum, the LDP has historically had very few female elected officials, and cabinet-making politics must factor in the fragmented nature of the whole party. This calls for a constant balance of power when making a cabinet, which ultimately matters more to Takaichi than balancing demographics.

Takaichi has made contradictory statements about same-sex marriage, both saying “there should be no prejudice” against the LGBT community while also calling same-sex marriage a “difficult problem.” Which stance is she more likely to take, and how could her political platform harm or help LGBT rights in Japan?

One thing that organizes Takaichi’s thinking on social issues is not wanting to upset the traditional attachment to the household. This thought process is gendered. As such, her statement that people can have the life they want, but not legally endorsing gay marriage, is very coherent with her approach to the world. The potential effect of this stance is that it will continue to be difficult for same sex couples to exist openly, and to obtain some benefits that married couples who fit the traditional format already have. Due to traditional conceptions of the family, I expect LGBTQ people will continue to be viewed as abnormal in Japan. That said, there are plenty of places in Japanese society where it is possible to exist in a non-normative way in regard to gender or sexuality. There is a long history in Japan of certain spaces existing for transgender individuals or gender nonconforming individuals. These spaces will continue to exist. Takaichi is likely signaling that she will not go after these safe spaces, but that she falls into the camp of people who believe that society should still be structured around the traditional household.

Takaichi has advocated keeping a national law mandating married couples adopt the same surname. Takaichi legally adopted her husband's last name during their first marriage, but continued to use her maiden surname professionally. Is this common? How is her use of her maiden name professionally seen by different groups in Japan?

When examining this question, you can go way back. A book from the 1980s comes to my mind, by Osamu Hashimoto in which two young female characters, one of whom runs for local office, have a debate about whether they should take their husbands’ names. This is a very old debate in Japan. Women on the Left definitely advocate for not having to take their husband’s last name. However, I want to note that some Japanese men also occasionally take their wife’s last name. This differs from the American debate, where either women feel pressured to take their husband’s last name or maintain their own last name. Japan is more complex, again, due to the traditional household structure. Perhaps, if the name of a household has more standing or power, the husband can agree to take his wife’s name. This is true for all sides of the political spectrum and has more to do with the associations of a family name rather than politics. Perhaps the household owns a business, or they have no sons, and the husband wishes to carry on the name of his wife’s family. This has led to a long tradition in Japan of people living by professional names that are not their own, whether they are men or women. From Takaichi’s perspective, this is likely what she is doing. From the perspective of modern professional women, who use their maiden name professionally prior to marriage, this may be frustrating. Despite this, Takaichi is unlikely to make progress on that issue. She is projecting a message that there are informal ways to settle non normative behavior, such as in last names, where she is a participant. However, she will not legally threaten the idealized household structure of Japanese society.

In your opinion, how important is Takaichi’s election to be Japan’s first female prime minister for advancing the position of Japanese women in politics and the workplace more broadly?

Let’s start by placing Takaichi in a perspective wider than just Japan. If you look across rich democracies today, you can see historic leaders on the Far Right that are women, such as Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Marine Le Pen in France. It is important to note that female leaders who have risen to power around the globe are hailing from the right side of the political spectrum. This calls for a larger understanding of women in politics. They seem to be presenting themselves as unconnected with feminist policies, and rather as female representatives of a conservative history. This is an undercurrent found beyond Japan and shows that the Right is doing a better job than the Left in showing that women’s votes and opinions matter in a political movement. If you cannot please women in politics, your movement will come to a halt. This began to crop up in the early 2000s in Japan, where female candidates were placed at the head of movements. Yuriko Koike, the mayor of Tokyo is a great example of this. She rose through this conservative process and then started her own local party. So, on one hand, Takaichi is not a person who will bring feminist policies to the table. She either does not believe in them or believes they are irrelevant to the work she is doing. On the other hand, the fact that the right wing in Japan and other places in the world sees a value in having traditionalism presented by a woman is a fascinating statement on the electoral power of women. It will be interesting to see how left-leaning movements in these countries get more creative about that electoral space.