ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 highlights state-initiated positive plans for women’s representation. Even without women-friendly performances in the abovementioned factors, a gender quota law alone will pave the way to a dramatic improvement in the legislative representation of women. Japan’s lack of an effective quota law explains why the proportion of Japanese women legislators has been increasingly overtaken by those in the many developing countries that have quota laws. For more than two decades, the United Nations (UN) has recommended countries, whose proportion of women legislators has stagnated, to introduce a gender quota policy. The Japanese government had responded to the UN recommendations by predominantly making efforts to increase the proportion of female advisory council members.
