Japan has made history on 21 October 2025, Sanae Takaichi was elected by the National Diet as the country’s first female prime minister. She succeeded Shigeru Ishiba. Observers view her ascent as a symbolic breakthrough in the Japan political landscape after a long domination by men.
This milestone invites us to reflect on what research tells us about the effects of women in leadership and how these findings might/ might not explain Japan’s new era.
What the research says about women in governance?
In their seminal paper Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India, economists Raghabendra Chattopadhyay and Esther Duflo used India’s system of mandated female village council heads to study whether women leaders govern differently. And their findings were,
- Resource allocation shifts toward women’s priorities.
- In villages where Prathan was reserved for a women, councils invested more in public goods that directly benefit women (e.g. drinking water).
- And for male-led councils, they’re invested relatively more in education.
- Greater participation by women.
- Female leadership encourage more women to attend council meetings and participate in decision making
These results suggest that women’s representation through quotas or reservations can have both immediate policy effects and long-term social impacts.
Now, applying the lesson to Japan’s
Takaichi’s election shatters a glass ceiling, but it does not automatically guarantee pro‑women policies. The AP notes that she is an “ultraconservative” politician who has not prioritized gender equality and has appointed only a small number of women to her cabinet.
Unlike India’s quota system that requires a critical mass of women in office, Japan’s parliamentary system still features a large gender gap. Without broader institutional reforms such as gender quotas in party lists or cabinet positions one woman at the top maybe a puppet?
The study also shows that female leaders in rural India invested more in services that reduced women’s time burdens and improved their daily lives. Japanese society faces its own gendered policy challenges: low female labour‑force participation, limited childcare options and persistent wage gaps.
Will Takaichi champion policies to address these issues? Her track record suggests otherwise; she supports traditional gender roles and opposes measures like separate surnames for married couples.
This contrast underscores that the benefits of female leadership depend heavily on the leader’s ideology and the wider political environment.
Thought
Japan’s first female prime minister represents both a historic milestone and a testing ground for theories about women’s leadership. Research from India shows that when women are systematically included in governance, policy decisions can shift towards issues that matter to women, and girls’ aspirations can rise. Whether Japan will experience similar benefits depends on the choices its leaders and parties make in the coming years.
To turn symbolic progress into substantive change, Japan may need to pair this groundbreaking appointment with institutional reforms such as gender quotas, more inclusive voting systems and supportive policies that ensure women have both a voice and a vote in shaping the country’s future.
References
Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra, and Esther Duflo. 2004. “Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India.” Econometrica, Vol. 75, No. 5, 1409-43.
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