Japan's Takaichi vows Nordic levels of women in cabinet. Can she deliver?


Former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Presidential Election Candidate Debate at Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 24, 2025. Jia Haocheng/Pool via REUTERS

TOKYO (Reuters) -In her campaign to become Japan's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi made a bold promise to narrow the country's wide gender gap in politics and lift the number of women in cabinet to a par with socially progressive Nordic countries.

Now that she has shattered the glass ceiling to be chosen leader of the ruling party on Saturday - setting her on course to emulate her hero Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female premier - Takaichi must try to deliver on promises her party has struggled to keep.

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