Japanese main opposition party elects first female leader

Renho Murata, the first woman to lead Japan&#039;s main opposition Democratic Party

(Image credit: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)

On Thursday, Japan's main opposition Democratic Party selected Renho Murata as its new leader and first woman to lead the party. Renho, 48, has served in the upper house of Japan's Diet, or parliament, for more than a decade, and before that she was a model and TV news anchor. Her easy win over two male opponents follows a good few months for women in Japan's government, Motoko Rich notes at The New York Times, following the election of Tokyo's first female governor, Yuriko Koike, and appointment of Japan's second female defense minister, Tomomi Inada.

Japan has been less successful elevating women to positions of power than its Asian neighbors and global economic peers, and women still hold only 15 percent of Diet seats. But having Renho at its helm might help the Democratic Party make inroads against the ruling conservative Liberal Democrats of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "Of the three candidates, she was the only one who has any chance of turning around the party's fortunes," Gill Steel, an associate professor of politics at Kyoto's Doshisha University, tells The New York Times. "A party led by and comprised mainly of older men, particularly when younger women are touted as a reformist alternative, does not project an attractive image."

Renho's Taiwanese heritage, on the other hand, could prove a problem in Japan. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Taiwanese father, and because Japan only allowed citizenship for children of Japanese fathers until 1985, Renho was a Taiwanese citizen until she was 17 years old. Japan's Socialist Party elected the first female leader of a major party, Takako Doi, 30 years ago, when it was the largest opposition party.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.