ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 tackles how Japan’s electoral system affects the legislative representation of women. Japan has adopted three electoral rules: multi-member districts (the Single Non-Transferable Vote, SNTV), single-member districts (first-past-the-post, FPTP), and Proportional Representation (PR). Among these three, according to the general knowledge that the preceding studies have accumulated, PR is more women-friendly than single-member districts, and a larger district magnitude in multi-member districts is also more supportive of women’s candidacy. I verify that the general knowledge about women in elections is true of the Japanese case. The single-member district rule discourages women from running elections. This rule is one of the crucial causes of the extremely low level of women’s presence in the Lower House. The electoral system, however, is not all about explanations for the legislative underrepresentation of Japanese women.
