Although women in Japan were recognized as having equal legal rights to men after World War II, economic conditions for women remain unbalanced. Modern policy initiatives to encourage motherhood and workplace participation have had mixed results.
A photograph of Japanese women from the book "Japan And Japanese" (1902)
Countess Mutsu Ryōko, wife of notable diplomat Count Mutsu Munemitsu. Photographed in 1888.
Yanagiwara Byakuren, a poet and member of the imperial family
Portrait of Ichiyō Higuchi, pioneering female author on 5000 yen banknote
Women's suffrage in Japan
Women's suffrage in Japan can trace its beginnings to democratization brought about by the Meiji Restoration, with the suffrage movement rising to prominence during the Taisho period. The prohibition of women from political meetings had been abolished in 1922 after demands from women's organizations led by activists such as Hiratsuka Raichō and Ichikawa Fusae. The movement suffered heavy setbacks during and after the Great Depression, when support for democracy began to wane and military influence over civilians increased dramatically. The first election by universal suffrage without distinction of sex was held in 1946, but it was not until 1947, when the constitution for post-war Japan came into effect, that universal suffrage was established In Japan.
A suffragette meeting in Tokyo
Women voting in Japan during the Taishō period
Ichikawa Fusae in 1947
The first women in the Japanese Diet, 1946
