日本政壇刮“女性旋風”

Japan's new government boasts a record number of women, including two cabinet ministers, slightly shifting the gender balance in a country with historically low female representation in politics.

The election victory of the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) altered the demographic map of the lower house, with 54 women winning seats in the 480-member chamber, up from 43 after the last election.

One of them, Keiko Chiba, 61, is the new justice minister, who opposes the death penalty and wants to encourage national debate on ending capital punishment.

The other female minister, with the portfolio of consumer affairs, population and gender equality, is Mizuho Fukushima, 53, a former human rights lawyer and leader of junior coalition partner the Social Democratic Party.

One of her major tasks will be to encourage family-friendly policies to boost Japan's low birth rate. The country faces a demographic time bomb, with a fast-greying population set to start shrinking soon.

Other new female faces entered the lower house as part of what the media had dubbed the DPJ's "Princess Corps", so-called female assassins who targeted conservative party veterans in their home districts.

Dozens of them beat their grey-suited rivals, with many first-termers now called "Ozawa girls" as they came to power under the guidance of DPJ heavyweight and campaign commander Ichiro Ozawa.

Not all the women who broke the political glass ceiling had an easy start.

Gossip magazines have dug up the past of one female first-termer, Mieko Tanaka, 33, a former travel agency employee who was forced to admit she used to work as a reporter for a sex industry magazine.

The new female lawmakers now account for 11.3 percent of members in the Diet's lower house, up from 9.2 before the poll.

But Japan still has some way to go. After the August 30 election, the Inter-Parliamentary Union pointed out that Japan had the developed world's lowest level of female representation in politics.

日本新一屆政府迎來了史上數量最多的女性成員，其中包括兩名內閣大臣。這一改變可稍微平衡一下日本政界的性別比例，日本歷史上很少有女性參政。

日本左傾政黨民主黨贏得大選勝利改變了日本衆議院的男女比例。在衆議院的480名議員中，女性議員從上屆選舉後的43名增至目前的54名。

其中一名女議員，61歲的千葉惠子爲日本新任法務大臣，她反對死刑，並希望在取消極刑的問題上鼓勵進行全國範圍的討論。

另一位女性大臣是負責消費者事務、人口和性別平等的福島瑞穂。她今年53歲，曾做過人權律師，是執政聯盟中的小黨社會民主黨的領袖。

福島的主要任務之一將是鼓勵“家庭友好”政策，提高日本的出生率。人口問題是日本的一顆“定時炸彈”，人口的迅速老齡化會使其人口很快開始減少。

其他進入衆議院的女性新成員被媒體戲稱爲日本民主黨的“公主軍團”，她們號稱“美女刺客”，專門“對付”各自家鄉選區的老牌保守黨議員。

她們中有不少人打敗了男性對手，很多首次就任的女議員被稱爲“小澤的姑娘”，因爲她們是在民主黨重量級人物、競選總指揮小澤一郎的帶領下贏得選舉的。

但不是所有打破政治“玻璃天花板”的女議員們都有一個順利的開始。

近日一些八卦雜誌挖出了首次出任議員的33歲的田中美惠子的歷史。田中美惠子曾是一家旅行社的僱員，日前她被迫承認自己曾在一家色情行業雜誌做過記者。

這些新上任的女議員佔日本議會衆議院議員總數的11.3%，較此前的9.2%有所上升。

但日本仍需努力。在8月30日的大選後，國際議會聯盟指出日本女性參政的比例爲發達國家最低。

Vocabulary:

boast: to possess (something to be proud of) 以有……而自豪；擁有，包含

demographic: of or relating to demography 人口統計的

capital punishment: the punishment of death for committing a serious crime 極刑，死刑

portfolio: the area of responsibility of the head of a government department 部長或大臣的職責範圍

fast-greying:快速老齡化的

glass ceiling: an unacknowledged discriminatory barrier that prevents women and minorities from rising to positions of power or responsibility, as within a corporation 玻璃天花板（通常專指女性在工作中升級時所遇到的一種無形的障礙，使其不能到達較高層級）

Diet:a national or local legislative assembly in certain countries, such as Japan （丹麥、日本等的）國會