Women's Political Participation: Surveys of Instituional and Social Factors

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03287
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: MIURA Mari 上智大学, 法学部, 教授 (80365676)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): スティール 若希 東京大学, 社会科学研究所, 准教授 (50638765) ; 申 キヨン お茶の水女子大学, ジェンダー研究所, 准教授 (00514291)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 女性の政治参画 / クオータ / 国会議員調査 / 男女共同参画 / 女性議員

Outline of Final Research Achievements

What are the hurdles of women's political participation? We aimed to reveal institutional and social factors that inhibit women's involvement in politics by conducting a survey to Diet members and women's organizations. We found out that time was a critical resource necessary to running for office. Since most women suffer from time crunch problems due to their care responsibilities, the heavy weight of networking time investment impedes women's participation in politics. We then conceptualized the notion of "constituency facetime" which consists of various activities in local constituencies that candidates are expected to fulfill. We also succeeded in coordinating the same surveys in Korea and Taiwan and thus prepared the ground for further comparative research. From the focus group survey of women activists, we found out that the distance between political parties and women's organizations constituted a hurdle for women's descriptive and substantive representation.

Free Research Field

政治学