If Seiko Noda doesn¡¯t achieve her quarter-century goal to become the nation¡¯s first female prime minister, maybe one of the 70-odd women who filed into a conference room to hear her speak Sunday will.
The women ¡ª smartly dressed, ages 15 to 69 ¡ª comprised the inaugural class of Noda¡¯s first-of-its-kind school for female politicians. Noda, 57, who is Japan¡¯s internal affairs and communications minister and long-shot candidate to replace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this year, plans to use the forum to prepare a new generation of women for the challenges of political leadership in the male-dominated society.
¡°I didn¡¯t set this school up for myself,¡± said Noda, one of just 22 women among the 283 Lower House lawmakers from Abe¡¯s Liberal Democratic Party. ¡°I suffered because I didn¡¯t have any role models, and I want to make it easier for the next generation. This is really something political parties should do, but they never have.¡±
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