Female Politicians in Japan and the US

In late September, Japan was as close as it has ever been to having a female prime minister. Meanwhile, even though the results of the U.S. presidential elections are not yet known as of this writing, it’s possible that the United States will soon have a woman in the White House. Regardless of the results, 2024 has been a watershed year for women in both Japan and the United States seeking the highest political office in their countries. What’s more, they are moving away from the traditional way female politicians reach out to fellow women for their votes.

In the case of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, much has been said about her identity. The daughter of an economics professor hailing originally from Jamaica and an oncology researcher who was born in India, Harris may not be the first woman to seek the presidency, but she is the first minority woman – and the first person of South Asian descent – aiming for the office.

But unlike Hillary Clinton, who campaigned aggressively in 2016 touting her credentials as a female leader, Harris has been low-key when it comes to gender issues. For Clinton, promoting her bona fides as a feminist was one of the hallmarks of her campaign and a rallying point for women Democrats across the nation. A proud graduate of the elite all-women Wellesley College, Clinton made breaking the glass ceiling and advocating for female empowerment an integral part of her stump speech across the country.

Harris, on the other hand, has shied away from promoting herself as a champion of concerns traditionally viewed as women’s issues. While she has made her position clear on reproductive rights in support of a woman’s right to choose, she has not proactively pushed for policies to advance women in the workplace or further empower women to follow in her own footsteps as a public prosecutor, senator, and vice president. Harris has also been fairly quiet about her own racial identity and has stayed away from advocating for any particular minority group.

It would be comforting to argue that the contrast between the campaign rhetoric tactics between Clinton and Harris is a result of more women in politics and greater advancement of minorities in the United States over the past eight years. Instead, it’s more likely that the further polarization of U.S. politics has made it even more difficult for a minority woman in particular to be seen as the leader to unite the country.

According to a CBS News/YouGov poll on October 25, 44 percent of men see Harris as a strong leader compared to 55 percent of women. Support from younger men for the Harris campaign, meanwhile, has been particularly low. Rightly or wrongly, young men increasingly feel voiceless and vulnerable. The assumption is that they do not think a woman would be able to champion their own concerns and expect a female president would instead weaken their foothold on the social and economic ladders still further.

In order to be attractive to as large a swath of the electorate as possible, advocating for further empowerment of women is only to be expected. Similarly, Harris’ interest in promoting greater racial equity and opportunities for minorities has been a given. As a result, the Democratic Party assumed strong support from women and minorities, but the reluctance of minority men to support a female candidate has caught the Democrats somewhat by surprise.

The Democratic Party could have studied the rise of Takaichi Sanae as a potential leader of Japan. While she did not secure an absolute majority in the first round of September’s election to determine the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leader, she was on top of the voting. Though Takaichi ultimately lost to Ishiba Shigeru in the second round, she came closer to becoming Japan’s first female premier than anyone else in history.

What’s striking is that her gender was not seen as a hindrance. Instead, it was her hawkish policies, especially in foreign policy, that ultimately paved the way for Ishiba’s victory.

One of the most striking facts about Takaichi is that she has not advocated for issues that empower women per se. She has eschewed from promoting childcare, early childhood education, or even healthcare. Instead, she has established herself as a political force steeped in defense and economic security concerns. She is more akin to Britain’s Margaret Thatcher both ideologically and in her political presence than to Kamala Harris or Hillary Clinton.

The fact that there are more than enough highly qualified female candidates to assume the highest political office in both the United States and Japan is evident. With gender being less an issue to be the candidate, the challenge will be to ensure that gender identity is not put at the forefront of campaigns, but rather that economic and security concerns are centered as the basis of their visions for their countries.