Japan elects first female head of government, Sanae Takaichi!

Japan elects first female head of government, Sanae Takaichi!

On October 4, 2025, the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) announced the election of Sanae Takaichi (64) as Japan's first female prime minister. Takaichi won the election for the LDP chairmanship on Saturday, beating Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (44) in a runoff. The parliamentary election for prime minister is scheduled for October 15. This marks a historic milestone for Japan's political landscape, where female representation is often considered low.

In the LDP leadership election, the five candidates needed a majority in the first round, but none of them achieved this. As a result, a runoff election was held in which Takaichi came out on top. Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigned in September due to his repeated electoral defeats, paving the way for Takaichi. There is palpable discontent among the population about rising living costs, which Takaichi has to take into account in her position as a new manager.

Focus on important topics

Takaichi, who served as Minister of Economic Security in the past, announced her candidacy on September 19, 2025. The central themes of her campaign include combating the high cost of living, the impact of US tariffs on the domestic economy and dealing with increasing natural disasters. Their proposal includes, among other things, a “cash benefit tax credit” and the elimination of the temporary gasoline tax rate. It also plans to strengthen investments in future-oriented technologies such as space travel and nuclear fusion in order to promote economic development.

This election marks Takaichi's third bid for the LDP leadership. Although she received the most votes in the first round in September 2024, she lost the runoff to Ishiba. This year's election took place as part of an intensive campaign that began on September 25th and the counting of votes took place on October 4th, 2025.

Political participation of women in Japan

The choice of Takaichi also has a broader social dimension. Japan ranks 167th out of 184 countries, with only 10.3% women in the lower house of the Interparliamentary Union 2023. Despite the fact that women are not considered unsuitable for politics, the proportion of female candidates in 2021 was only 17.7%. Social structures, institutional hurdles and cultural factors significantly influence women's political participation. Traditional gender roles and the expectation that women have experience as housewives and mothers limit the sporadic burgeoning political activity of women.

In addition, there are also challenges in Japan such as the irregular employment of 54% of women, which limits their political participation. While women like Makiko Tanaka and Yukiko Koike break down stereotypes and serve as role models, Japan's political culture shows that women's willingness to run for office remains low.

Today's announcement could not only mark a shift in Japan's political landscape, but also mark the beginning of a new era in gender politics. With Sanae Takaichi at the helm, Japan faces the challenge of further advancing gender equality in the world of politics and sustainably improving women's political participation rates. These developments will be closely monitored, both in Japan and internationally.

For further information on the election of Sanae Takaichi, please refer to the reporting by Small newspaper, while Japan News provides additional details about their political agenda. A more comprehensive context on women's political participation in Japan can be found at Gender Blog.