2009/01/05

Women in Politics

We decided to have a debate about the need (whether there is one, that is) to increase the number of women in Japan's parliament (the Diet). １つのディベートを女性の国会議員の数を増やす必要があるかどうか、というテーマで行うことが前回の授業で決まりました。

Here are some relevant facts and sites. 関連する基礎知識やサイトなど:
  • http://www.iwdc.org/resources/timeline.htm

    1946: Women vote and stand for election to the House of Representatives for the first time in Japan. Of the 79 women running for office, 39 are elected.（女性が初めて国会議員になったのは1946年。）

    1960: Nakayama Masa is appointed Minister of Health and Welfare in Japan, becoming Japan's first female cabinet member.（初の女性大臣）

  • http://www.geocities.jp/senkyo_power/

    This is a very useful site (in Japanese). I recommend the following pages for basic data about the situation in Japan:


  • http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/dem_fem_par-democracy-female-parliamentarians

    Female parliamentarians (most recent) by country. 国別の女性国会議員の割合。

      #1 Sweden: 42.7%
      #2 Denmark: 38%
      #3 Finland: 36.5%
      #9 New Zealand: 30.8%
      #14 Australia: 26.5%
      #22 Canada: 23.6%
      #26 China: 21.8%
      #45 United Kingdom: 17.1%
      #61 United States: 13.8%
      #89 Japan: 10%
      #128 Korea, South: 5.9%

    This ranking is no longer correct. The number of women in Korea's parliament, for example, has increased dramatically recently (click here). このランキングは古くて、最近は韓国の順位が上がっています。リンクをクリックしてみてください。Korea now has 20%!

  • http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kumamoto-i/message/9064

    This article says "Some members of the Kumamoto City Council objected to the language of a proposed bill for sexuality equality for participation in society, saying that it was "a denial of traditional Japanese culture." Scroll to the bottom of this page to find the response to this message. このページの下の方にある返信投稿へのリンクをクリックしてみてください。It contains links to Japanese articles as well.日本語の記事へのリンクがあります。「熊本市議会：男女共同参画条例、大幅修正し強行採決　『理念骨抜き』と反発も」

    Perhaps the result might have been different if more women were represented. 女性議員の数がより多ければ、結果は違ったのでは？

  • http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/living/life/CK2007041502008848.html

    「女性道府県議　過去最多１９０人に　過半数占める神奈川・大磯町」. This is an article about a place in Japan (Oiso Town in Kanagawa) where women make up over half of the elected representatives.

  • http://www.dpj.or.jp/news/?num=14177

    「鳩山幹事長、参院女性議員らがそろい「女性キャラバン」発足会見 女性パワーで日本再生を！」This is an article on the site of Japan's democratic party about a new "women's caravan" and the need to rebuild Japan through women's power.

  • Quotas

    The following Japanese article explains that the use of quotas is being consider as a means of increasing the number of women in Japanese politics. 次の記事によると、女性議員の数を増やすために、クォータ制（割当制度？）が検討されているそうです。

    　
    I learned from this article that quotas are being used quite widely throughout the world. クォータが広く使われているようです。See the following sites. 次のサイト参照：


    Perhaps our debate should focus on the pros and cons of establishing a quota system in Japan, as Korea, Canada, Thailand, China, the United Kingdom and Australia have done.
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