Q98 In Japan's 2005 House of Representatives elec-tion, weren't a record number of women elected to the Diet {parliament)?
A98 Yes, since that was part of the strategy of then-Prime Min-ister Junichiro Koizumi. Forty-two women were elected to the Lower House of the Diet but, according to a survey by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)-an international organization rep-resenting the parliaments of sovereign states-Japan ranked 105th among 187 countries in terms of the ratio of females to total members of Lower Houses of parliament and single-chamber parliaments.
