Women accounted for a record high 12.1 percent of all local-level assembly members across the country as of June 1, although it represented a marginal 1 point increase from the previous survey four years ago, a Tokyo-based nonprofit group said Friday.
Kimiko Kubo, an official at the Fusae Ichikawa Center for Women and Governance, which conducted the research, said, "Women's participation in politics has not made much progress.
"It is regrettable that (the figure is) only around 10 percent, given that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the enfranchisement of women (in Japan)," she said of the results of its latest survey of municipal and prefectural assemblies. The survey has been conducted every four years since 1971.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's team is promoting the empowerment of women as one of its policy goals, calling for their advancement to leadership positions in all areas of society.
Female members totaled 4,078 after this spring's unified local elections, up from 3,942 in the survey in 2011, when they accounted for 11.1 percent of all local assembly members.
By prefecture, the presence of women was highest in Tokyo, at 25.5 percent, followed by 19.7 percent in Kanagawa and 18.5 percent in Osaka. The lowest (6.1 percent) was logged by Aomori.
No women held seats in 368 of the nation's 1,788 local assemblies, meaning 1 in 5 had no female members. They were found in all but two of the 47 prefectures, with Tochigi and Osaka the exceptions.
The center, named after Fusae Ichikawa, who died in 1981, was an activist and former House of Councilors member who spearheaded a movement to seek women's suffrage, produces data on women's presence in assemblies after major rounds of regional elections held once every four years.
