Japan's Womenomics Diplomacy: Fighting Stigma and Constructing ODA Leadership on Gender Equality

Abstract

AbstractUnder conservative Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, Japan has embarked upon a high profile ‘Womenomics’ foreign policy agenda to highlight Japan's official development assistance (ODA) contributions to women's empowerment worldwide. This paper examines the puzzle of why such an avowedly conservative government would pursue a feminist foreign policy agenda. The paper finds that Japan's Womenomics diplomacy cannot be explained simply by materialist or domestic political explanations, but is best understood as a strategic campaign stemming from elite concern about Japan's national identity and esteem about its status in the world. Through Womenomics diplomacy, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs attempts to construct Japan as a leader on women's rights and gender equality in response to the twin stigmas of Japan's treatment of wartime ‘comfort women’ and perennial low rankings on international indexes of gender equality.