Sanae Takaichi has broken the glass ceiling, and for the first time, Japan has a female prime minister

The glass ceiling of the Japanese Parliament has been broken. The leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Asian country, Sanae Takaichi, is the first female prime minister. Before that, 103 men have held the seat of prime minister, so the election of Takaichi marks a milestone.

Takaichi, 64, has received 237 of the 465 votes in the Lower House and 123 of the 246 votes in the Upper House in the first round. Having had no majority in that second vote, they have had to repeat the vote, with Yoshihiko Noda of the Democratic Party and Takaichi himself in front.

The politician was appointed to replace Shigeru Ishiba in the Liberal Party on 4 October, after he resigned in the middle of his term. The defeat in the last two elections in Japan caused the party to be a minority in both chambers and to have serious difficulties in passing any law.

That being the case, Takaichi has had to seek a coalition agreement for the appointment to proceed, which he reached on Monday with Nippon Ishin no Kai, who disassociated himself from the other opposition parties last week, and the opposition's intention to present a joint candidate.

However, although it has obtained sufficient votes to nominate the candidate, the new coalition does not have a majority in the chambers, so the new Government will not easily succeed in passing the laws; it will need to seek consensus on the issues it intends to bring forward, both between opposition and independent parties. 

Takachi's appointment has also been accompanied by the resignation of Ishiba's entire government, which has been in power for a year since he was appointed Prime Minister on 1 October 2024 and has now taken a step aside to clear the way for the replacement to appoint a new Executive. 

Two women, Minister

The new Head of Government has already appointed the 19 members of his Government, of whom only two were women, although she had promised a proportion "equal to that of the Nordic countries". 

There were also two seats held by women in Shigeru Ishiba's government, far from the mark of Fumio Kishida's term (2021-2024), which was then 5 out of 20 women, but for the first time there will be a woman in charge of the Ministry of Finance.