FOCUS: Japanese parties vie to boost No. of female lawmakers ahead of polls

Japanese political parties are competing with each other to promote female candidates ahead of a lower house election that must be held by this fall, but some worry that, like similar efforts before, the initiative may be more sloganeering than a harbinger of real change.With Japan's male-dominated political world forming a large part of the reason why the country places a shocking 120th out of 156 countries in a gender gap ranking, many parties have or are considering setting numerical goals for female candidates.In the Diet, women comprised just 9.9 percent of lawmakers in the powerful lo…READ FULL ARTICLE