Women in politics is global issue, Japanese prof says

By JUSTIN WIER

jwier@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Japanese professor and former politician Mieko Nakabayashi said women’s issues are not separate from men’s lives.

Nakabayashi spoke about women in politics in the DeBartolo Stadium Club at Youngstown State University on Thursday as part of YSU’s Women’s History Month programming. She presented data on the number of women represented in politics, work and education, both in the U.S. and Japan and around the world.

Showing a chart documenting the percentage of women serving in national legislative bodies worldwide, Nakabayashi said less than 25 percent of politicians around the world are women.

“Women in politics is not a domestic issue,” she said. “It’s a global issue.”

The U.S. and Japan lag behind other developed countries on the issue. Countries including Norway, Sweden, Spain and Rwanda have a much greater share of women among their political representatives. These countries also employ quotas that dictate a certain level of female representation in their legislative bodies.

In the U.S., representation has been steadily increasing over the years, but Nakabayashi said that in Japan it tends to go up and down depending on which party is in control.

Without significant numbers of women in politics, Nakabayashi said it’s difficult for women to band together and make changes women want.

Because the issue goes beyond national borders, she suggested women could cooperate to find a solution to the problem.

Cryshanna Jackson-Leftwich, director of the Women and Gender Studies program, said she wanted to bring Nakabayashi to campus to bring a global perspective to the Women’s History Month programming.

“We think of a lot of the issues women face as only in America and not with a global perspective,” she said.

Jackson-Leftwich appreciated that Nakabayashi talked about women’s issues affecting men’s lives.

“What affects women and what affects the family affects our community, and it affects everybody,” she said.

Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally was among those who attended to hear Nakabayashi speak. He said it was enlightening to hear about Japan being more conservative than the U.S. with regard women in the workplace and immigration.

Nakabayashi closed with a graph showing the stock prices for Japanese companies with female executives and those without female executives. The companies with women in leadership performed better.

“Diversity pays off,” she said. “More women should be elevated.”