Japan’s Women Voters: A Pink Revolt

Yellow was the color of Corazon Aquino’s “people power” revolution in the Philippines three years ago. If there was a theme color in Sunday’s crushing electoral defeat for Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, it would have to be pink.

Pink because the country’s demure, soft-spoken women emerged from political obscurity to dominate campaign rhetoric with outrage over a new consumption tax they claimed betrayed ruling party promises and gouged their pocketbooks. An unprecedented number of women candidates vied for seats in the upper house of Parliament--and an unprecedented number were elected in a wave of protest voting against the conservative, male leadership.

Women supporting Takako Doi, the charismatic chairwoman of the Japan Socialist Party, attested to their loyalty with pink neckerchiefs. NHK, the semi-government television network, illustrated dramatic gains by the Socialists and other opposition parties early today with a chart showing pink pillars rising out of a stylized map of Japan.

Looming large in the mind of the irate electorate was the “pink scandal” of Prime Minister Sosuke Uno, who has been disgraced by recent accusations that he paid for sex in extramarital relations with a geisha and several other women. Uno has refused to comment on the allegations but conceded in a news conference this morning that he was resigning “to assume all responsibility” for matters contributing to the ruling party’s defeat.

Erosion of public confidence in Uno and his Liberal Democrats began with revulsion against the tax reform, then worsened with disgust over disclosures of widespread political corruption in the Recruit Co. influence-buying scandal and contempt among farmers for a policy of liberalizing agricultural imports.

But repudiation of the ruling party, which controlled Parliament for 34 years before losing its majority in the upper house Sunday, was galvanized by the moral pique of women.

“Women felt they had to stand up, speak up and do something, otherwise nothing would change,” said Doi, the Socialist Party leader, who credited female candidates and voters with shaping the direction of the polling.

Indeed, a record 143 women entered the race as candidates, and early returns indicated that at least 20 had been elected among the 126 seats being contested. Such a strong representation has not been seen since 39 women were elected to the lower house of Parliament in 1946, soon after Japanese women were first granted the right to vote. And since only half the seats were contested in the upper house Sunday, it was proportionately the best showing for women in national politics ever--at least a 15% share of the spoils.

In getting out the vote, as well, women set the pace Sunday, out-voting their male counterparts by more than a percentage point with a turnout of 65.63%. Registered women voters outnumber men by 2.7 million.

Although women’s groups had vociferously protested Uno’s alleged extramarital indiscretions, the focus of female wrath in the election was the more pragmatic matter of livelihood. Specifically, they rallied against the 3% consumption tax, introduced unilaterally by the ruling conservatives earlier this year.

“I think this election illustrates anger over the consumption tax . . . especially among women and the elderly,” said Yaeko Itohisa, a Socialist who won a seat in Chiba Prefecture (state). She vowed in a televised interview to fight for abolition of the tax, as did nearly all the opposition winners.