Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：EWHA WOMANS UNIV PRESS  

This paper examines how women's presence makes a difference in the realm of women's substantive representation, focusing on the case of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. We define substantive representation as legislators' actions on behalf of women, through which they try to represent women's interests and seek solutions to the problems and difficulties they face. First, we examined the statements made by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members in legislative debates. We then conducted in-depth interviews with five female assembly members who spoke for women considerably more than all the others, in order to understand what they did for women and why, in addition to the difficulties they faced in putting their ideas into practice. Our findings show that female members of minor parties and independent members were passionate about acting for women, but their ability to actually implement their ideas in the way of policy outputs was limited, because of institutional constraints, such as weak policy powers of the legislature and their minority status. Overall, our study builds on research on women's substantive representation by reaffirming the importance of political parties and institutions as key factors shaping the process and outcomes of women's substantive representation.

DOI： 10.1080/12259276.2019.1648742

Web of Science

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：SOOKMYUNG WOMENS UNIV  

This paper investigates how women's interests and rights are advocated in the legislatures in both the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly (Japan) and the Seoul Metropolitan Council (South Korea). A growing body of comparative research on women's substantive representation provides insights into the kinds of policy topics that are often categorized as women's issues, as well as the personal backgrounds of the legislators who represent women's interests. We raise and analyze three key questions: Can only female legislators represent women's interests? How does a legislator's sex/gender interact with other factors such as partisanship in shaping who represents women's interests and how? How do contextual factors such as party systems impact how women's substantive representation occurs? We explore these questions in the context of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly and the Seoul Metropolitan Council using an in-depth examination of statements made by local council members in plenary and committee sessions (Tokyo 2009-2015 and Seoul 2009-2014). We found that similar issues are discussed as being relevant to women in the two local councils. However, the issues emphasized and where those issues are discussed vary across our cases. Female members, regardless of their party affiliation, address women's issues more often than their male counterparts in both countries, although female members of progressive parties tend to advocate for women more actively, and parties representing distinct constituencies and ideologies highlight different aspects of women's concerns. Our findings contribute to existing knowledge of women's substantive representation, as well as to research on women and politics in the Asian region.

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS  

'Traditional' gender norms, which prescribe the primary roles of women as mothers and wives in the home, have been identified as one factor that hinders women's political participation. If so, how do anti-feminist conservative women in Japan, seen as the defenders of 'traditional' gender norms, participate in political activism? To answer this question, I examine three issues using statements made by Japanese conservative women themselves: the content of the gender norms they uphold; the constraints they perceive due to their upholding of such gender norms and how they overcome them; and if and how their gender norms can encourage their political activism. My findings demonstrate that conservative women variously manage to make space for their political activism without betraying their commitment to traditional roles at home. Moreover, when intersected by their conservative ideology, their upholding of 'traditional' gender norms can prompt them to take political action. Based on these findings, I suggest that paying close attention to women's agency vis-a-vis gender norms as well as their political ideology can help us attain a better understanding of how exactly 'traditional' gender norms influence women's political participation in a specific context.

DOI： 10.1093/ssjj/jyu041

Web of Science

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution)  

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Total pages：vi, 275 p.   Language：English

CiNii Books

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (other)  

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (bulletin of university, research institution)  

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publisher：後藤・安田記念東京都市研究所  

CiNii Article

CiNii Books

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (other)  

File： v49.pdf

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