Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T10:00:40.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Alternative Form of Women's Political Representation: Netto, a Proactive Women's Party in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2019

Ki-Young Shin Open the ORCID record for Ki-Young Shin [Opens in a new window]
Ki-Young Shin*
Affiliation:
Ochanomizu University, Japan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines a Japanese local party, Netto, as a new type of women's party. The Netto is defined as a “proactive women's party” to illustrate how it is different not only from conventional political parties but also from parties organized to promote feminist platforms. The Japanese Netto is a women-dominated party in which women constitute the majority of members and candidates, as well as party leadership. The party platform prioritizes practical women's interests such as safe food and child-rearing over women's labor or feminist issues. The gendered characteristics of Netto appeal to middle-class housewives and mothers, facilitating the electoral success of the party in urban areas. The party's notable features, such as rotation of deputies, term limits, donation of deputy salary, and volunteerism, distinguish Netto from conventional political parties. As such, the party provides an alternative model of political representation. The Netto party illustrates that not all women's parties use a feminist platform, but they still play an important role in changing male-dominated electoral politics.

Keywords

Local partywomen's partyNettoSeikatsusha networkwomen's political representationJapan
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 16 , Special Issue 1: Special Symposium on Women's Parties , March 2020 , pp. 78 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alvarez, Sonia. 1990. Engendering Democracy in Brazil: Women's Movements in Transition Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Amano, Masako. 2011. In Pursuit of the Seikatsusha: A Genealogy of the Autonomous Citizen in Japan. Trans. Stickland, Leonie R.. Melbourne: Trans Pacific [in Japanese, 1996. Seikatsusha towa Dareka: Jiritsuteki Siminzo no Keihu. Tokyo: Chuokoronsha].Google Scholar
Cowell-Meyers, Kimberly B. 2014. “The Social Movement as Political Party: The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and the Campaign for Inclusion.” Perspectives on Politics 12 (1): 61–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowell-Meyers, Kimberly B., Evans, Elizabeth, and Shin, Ki-young. 2019. “Women's Parties: A New Party Family.” Politics & Gender. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X19000588CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, Emma. 2015. Women and Politics in Contemporary Japan. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eto, Mikiko. 2005. “Women's Movements in Japan: the Intersection between Everyday Life and Politics.” Japan Forum 17 (3): 311–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Elizabeth and Kenny, Meryl. 2019. “Doing Politics Differently? Applying a Feminist Institutionalist Lens to the U.K. Women's Equality Party.” Politics & Gender. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X1900045XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferree, Myra Marx and Mueller, Carol McClurg. 2004. “Feminism and the Women's Movement: A Global Perspective.” In Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, ed. Snow, David A., Soule, Sarah A., and Kriesi, Hanspeter. Oxford: The Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Gelb, Joyce and Estevez-Abe, Margarita. 1998. “Political Women in Japan: A Case Study of the Seikatsusha Network Movement.” Social Science Japan Journal 1 (2): 263–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasunuma, Linda. 2019. “The Politics of Care and Community: Women and Civil Society in Japan.” In Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan, ed. Steele, Gill. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 103–120.Google Scholar
Igarashi, Akio, and Schreurs, Miranda A.. 2012. Josei ga Seiji o Kaeru Toki: Giin, Shicho, Chiji no Keiken (When Women Transform Politics: Experience of Parliamentarians, Majors, and Governors). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Ishiyama, John T. 2003. “Women's Parties in Post-Communist Politics.” East European Politics and Societies 17 (2): 266–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iwane, Kunio. 1993. Atarashii Shakaiundo no Sihanseki (A Quarter Century's New Social Movement). Tokyo: Kyodotosho Sabisu.Google Scholar
Kanai, Yoshiko. 1992. Feminizumu mondai no tenkan (Changing Questions in Feminism). Tokyo: Keisoshobō.Google Scholar
Lam, Peng-Er. 1999. Green Politics in Japan. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, Robin M. 1999. Bicycle Citizens: The Political World of the Japanese Housewife. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Martin, Sherry L. 2019. “Japan's Growing Base of Women in Elected Office.” In Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan, ed. Steele, Gill. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 215–228.Google Scholar
Matland, Richard. 2002. “Enhancing Women's Political Participation: Legislative Recruitment and Electoral Systems.” In Woman in Parliament: Beyond Numbers, ed. Karam, Azza. Stockholm: IDEA. http://www.idea.int.Google Scholar
Miura, Mari, Shin, Ki-young, and Steele, Jackie. 2018. “Does “Constituency Facetime” Reproduce male Dominance: Insights from Japan's Mixed-Member Majoritarian Electoral System.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of International Political Science Association. Brisbane, Australia, July 21–25, 2018.Google Scholar
Molyneux, Maxine. 1985. “Mobilization Without Emancipation? Women's Interests, the State, and Revolution in Nicaragua.” Feminist Studies 11 (2): 227–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molyneux, Maxine. 1988. “Analyzing Women's Movements.” Development and Change 29 (2): 219–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murakami, Ayaka. 2017. “Furansu no Hieirishimindantai niyoru Parite Jissenkatsudo no Genjo: Genchi Kikitorichosa o Chusinni (French Associations’ Actions to Promote ‘Parity’ in Elected Political Assemblies: Based on Field Research in France).” Nenpo Ningen Kagaku 38:159–175.Google Scholar
Ogai, Tokuko. 2001. “Japanese Women and Political Institutions: Why Are Women Politically Underrepresented?” PS: Political Science and Politics 34 (2): 207–210.Google Scholar
Ogai, Tokuko. 2005. Jenda to Seijisanka (Gender and Political Participation). Tokyo: Seori- shobo.Google Scholar
Ohki, Naoko. 2010. “Josei Tsiho Giin no Senkokatei ni tsuiteno Jenda Bunseki (Political Parties’ Selection Process of Women Candidates and the Changing Consciousness of Women Candidates on Femininity).” Ochanomizu University Proceedings 12 (July) :33–42. https://teapot.lib.ocha.ac.jp/?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&item_id=33738&item_no=1&page_id=64&block_id=115.Google Scholar
Oyama, Naho, and Kunihiro, Yoko. 2010. Tsiikishakaini okeru Josei to Seiji (Women and Politics in Local Communities). Tokyo: Dokaidaigakushuppankai.Google Scholar
Sato, Yoshiyuki, Amano, Masako, and Nasu, Hisashi, eds. 1995. Joseitachi no Seikatsusha Undo (The Women's Seikatsusha Movement). Tokyo: Marujusha.Google Scholar
Shin, Ki-young. 2011. “The Women's Movement,” In The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics, ed. Gaunder, Alisa. New York: Routledge, 175–186.Google Scholar
Steel, Gill, ed. 2019. Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steel, Gill, and Kabashima, Ikuo. 2008. “Cross-Regional Support for Gender Equality.” International Political Science Review 29 (2): 133–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watanabe, Noboru. 1995. “‘Shuhu'kara ‘Zennitsisimin’ soshite ‘Seikatsusha’ toshiteno ‘Josei’ e (From ‘Housewife’ to ‘Full-time Citizen’ to ‘Woman’ as ‘Seikatsusha’),” In Joseitachi no Seikatsusha Undo (The Women's Seikatsusha Movement), eds. Sato, Yoshiyuki, Amano, Masako, and Nasu, Hisashi. Tokyo: Marujusha, 175–221.Google Scholar
Yoon, Jiso, and Osawa, Kimiko. 2017. “Advocating Policy Interests in Local Politics: Women's Substantive Representation in Japan and Korea.” Asian Women 33 (2): 43–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar