It's one of the absolutely worst countries -- among Asian countries, among rich countries, among democracies. There is no political will to increase women, and the system doesn't really favor female c

Well, I fully expect this quote of the day to elicit some strong comments below. I understand that criticizing one's own country is a fairly common thing. I haven't hesitated over the years to point out some glaring deficiencies and shortcomings in the country of my citizenship. But really, regardless of gender quotas, there is just NO WAY you can argue that Japan is in any way worse than Saudi Arabia or South Sudan regarding almost anything. OK, maybe in contributing to the coming extinction of elephants through the ivory trade and the insatiable demand of Japanese people to have personal seals made of that substance. There's that. I doubt Saudi sheikhs or South Sudanese herders covet ivory-made goods as much as Japanese people.

But on the gender issue, I really don't care how many female lawmakers there are (proportionally speaking) in Riyadh or Juba compared to Tokyo. You're just not going to convince me or too many others on that one.

And yet, just the other night I was watching a program on Channel 6 denying Japan was so discriminatory. It was either just misunderstood or deliberately maligned. The faces of various talento looked indignant. Though it didn't seem to address substantive issues like gender balance in positions of power.

Masswipe, That sounds a bit odd; sort of like saying, I don't care about the facts, I know what I know.

A better counter-argument would be (perhaps) the females in parliament in Saudi Arabia & South Sudan might be more in number and proportion than Japan but wield considerably less power. They are token representatives. Perhaps as I know nothing about electoral procedures in South Sudan; I believe women got the right to be representatives in Saudi Arabia only recently? In the last 10 years or so? I'm not sure.

there is just NO WAY you can argue that Japan is in any way worse than Saudi Arabia or South Sudan regarding almost anything.

I think you'll find that most Japanese don't consider Saudi Arabia or South Sudan as part of Asia.

For that matter, I would have put SA in the Middle East, and Sudan as part of Africa. Are they really considered part of Asia?

It's one of the absolutely worst countries -- among Asian countries, among rich countries, among democracies. There is no political will to increase women, and the system doesn't really favor female candidates.

Mari's quote doesn't seem to mention Saudi or SSudan at all. she's talking about rich, asian, or democratic nations.

The proportion of female lawmakers in Japan’s national parliament lags far behind countries like Saudi Arabia and South Sudan, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international organization.

This quote was from a completely different source: the IPU

StrangerlandOCT. 05, 2016 - 09:03AM JST For that matter, I would have put SA in the Middle East, and Sudan as part of Africa. Are they really considered part of Asia?

Continentally-speaking, Saudi Arabia is in Asia.

MASSWIPE: "But really, regardless of gender quotas, there is just NO WAY you can argue that Japan is in any way worse than Saudi Arabia or South Sudan regarding almost anything. "

Actually, it IS behind them in this respect, and FAR behind many other nations, to boot. Isn't it #101 in the world in terms of gender equality, while China is #55?

What happened to Abe's world tour saying he was going to make Japan a leader in gender equality? Oh yeah... he actually made the LDP record in terms of the lowest number of women in its ranks!

Strangerland: "I think you'll find that most Japanese don't consider Saudi Arabia or South Sudan as part of Asia."

I think you won't, especially given its foreign ministry puts them and other countries most people consider to be in the ME in Asia. I've even argued with people specifically about Saudi Arabia being part of Asia (they said was, I said while continentally it's correct, in all other respects it is not).