Mari Miura knows all about the gender equality situation in Japan, especially as it relates to parity in politics.
In her capacity as a professor of political science at Sophia University, Miura was involved in the legislative process for Japan's Gender Parity Law, which was enacted last year, when she served as an academic advisor to the working team of the All-partisan Caucus for the Promotion of Gender Equality in Politics that composed the bill.
Over the next few months, the efficacy of that enactment will be put to the test, when first local and then Upper House elections take place. And although that bill is nonbinding, Miura believes its influence is already evident.