ABSTRACT
In 1993 a momentous year for Japanese politics for two reasons. First, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost control of the Lower House for the first time since its inception in 1955. Second, the Lower House electoral system changed to a hybrid system that included proportional representation (PR) seats. Many political scientists have demonstrated that countries with PR electoral systems are more likely to have higher female representation in their national assemblies. In 2005 the LDP president and prime minister Koizumi deployed a form of positive action for female LDP candidates in the Lower House election, to be explored. The combination of an electoral system, including women, to succeed in with welfare, employment and gender equity policies that encourage gender role segregation and a lack of political will on the part of political parties to address the gender imbalance produces a formidable barrier to solving the problem of female political under-representation.
