Japan elects fewer women MPs in snap election

TOKYO

The number of women in Japan's powerful lower house has fallen after snap elections, results showed Tuesday, dealing a blow to already underrepresented women in male-dominated Japanese politics.

Sanae Takaichi tightened her grip on power on Feb. 8, four months after becoming Japan's first woman prime minister, but has shown little appetite for framing her leadership around gender.

Women now make up 15 percent of lawmakers, winning 68 of 465 seats in the house of representatives, down from 73 elected in 2024, in a vote that handed Takaichi's conservatives a historic landslide.

A record 24 percent of candidates were women on Feb. 8, but that figure was just 1 percentage point up from 2024.

Hikaru Fujita stood for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) while pregnant and won against a veteran lawmaker, securing nearly half the votes in her district.

During her campaign in the central province of Nagano, she promised to support young people and women, and was personally endorsed by Takaichi when she announced her pregnancy.

In Japan, gender roles are rigid, with women usually expected to look after the home and family, even if they work.

Takaichi, a staunch conservative who admires Margaret Thatcher, named a male-dominated cabinet when she took the helm in October, despite pledging to boost female representation.