Sanae Takaichi takes charge as Japan’s first female PM

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Pic/AP, PTI

Sanae Takaichi, a star of ultraconservative Japanese politics and a rare woman to rise in its male-dominated hierarchy, has been elected the country's first female prime minister. Takaichi, 64, is also the first woman to lead the Liberal Democratic Party that has dominated Japan's postwar politics almost without interruption.

As a student, Takaichi was a drummer in a heavy-metal band and rode a motorcycle. She says she's a workaholic who would rather work at home than go out and socialise. First elected to parliament from her hometown of Nara in 1993, she served in key party and government posts, including minister of economic security, internal affairs and gender equality, though her diplomatic experience is thin.

Women hold only about 15 per cent of the seats in Japan's lower house, the more powerful of the two parliamentary chambers. Only two of Japan's 47 prefectural governors are women. Takaichi has vowed to significantly increase the number of women in her government.

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