Comment: Why are Asia鈥檚 women politicians facing a backlash? Published on: 31 May 2018 Writing for The Conversation, Dr. Shan-Jan Sarah Liu discusses why women in Asia are less likely to engage with politics. In the global struggle to get more women into high political office, one of the more hopeful fronts is Asia. Taiwan recently celebrated two years of its first female president, , and its national legislature includes (38% of seats). Other Asian countries, such as and , have also had women heads of government. Some have more women MPs than many of their Western counterparts. These are major advances 鈥� but is Asia really making headway on gender equality? It鈥檚 widely assumed that when women start to become political leaders, gender equality benefits, but on the political representation and participation of women in Asia calls that assumption into question. To achieve real equality, Asian countries will need to do a lot more than just get more women representatives and leaders elected. It鈥檚 true that women鈥檚 political presence has serious implications. Female MPs are generally imagined to act in the interests of women at large, and they also . Their example can motivate other women to actively engage in politics, too. In many parts of the world, female MPs are crucial role models for other women and girls, inspiring them to envision themselves as equal to men and by extension to enter political life. But in much of Asia, these positive effects are hard to see. In my research, I looked at 13 countries sampled by the Asian Barometer 鈥� a public opinion survey in East and Southeast Asia. They were Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. In these places, women鈥檚 legislative presence is not met with an increase in women鈥檚 political engagement; in fact, it seems to trigger a backlash. In these countries, the rise of women politicians is actually discouraging women in general from engaging in politics. As the presence of women MPs increases, Asian women are less likely to discuss politics with family and friends, to turn out to vote, to campaign for candidates, or to protest. And even as women鈥檚 political representation increases, the gender gap in these various political activities persists. Given the usual optimistic assumptions about the effect of having women enter politics, why should this be? Setting examples One explanation could be that when female politicians take the helm but gender equality doesn鈥檛 improve, their presence may be seen as tokenistic. In many of the Asian countries I鈥檝e studied, the advancement of women in politics is strikingly disconnected from women鈥檚 economic and social lives more generally. Parts of Sub-Saharan Africa aside, East and Southeast Asia are marked by a greater discrepancy between women鈥檚 political rights and their social rights than any other part of the world. As long as this disparity persists, there鈥檚 little reason for women to suddenly get inspired to engage in politics. More than that, where women politicians decline to use their power to advocate for women鈥檚 rights, female voters will hardly be thrilled. Taiwan鈥檚 president, Tsai Ing-Wen, is known for , and her cabinet includes 鈥� notably fewer than sat in previous male-led cabinets. Should she run for a second term in 2020, that record won鈥檛 exactly inspire female voters. And then there are the less edifying examples. In South Korea, former president ended up for corruption. When other women campaign and are nominated for the presidency, or indeed other high offices, her bad example will loom large. Clearly, having women in government is a good end in itself. But in an era when women鈥檚 political representation is on the rise 鈥� albeit slowly 鈥� it鈥檚 crucial to ensure that gender equality in political institutions isn鈥檛 just a matter of numbers. The measure of its impact isn鈥檛 just the number of women occupying positions of power, but visible changes that benefit women outside political institutions. , Lecturer in Comparative Politics, This article was originally published on . Read the . Share: Latest News New partnership to boost careers in low carbon energy 缅北禁地 and Durham universities are working together on a new regional project to strengthen the future workforce for North East England鈥檚 growing low carbon and offshore wind industries. published on: 28 May 2026 Healthy lifestyle shown to lower risk of death after cancer diagnosis New evidence shows that sticking to five lifestyle recommendations improves survival after a later cancer diagnosis. published on: 28 May 2026 World-leading climate expert recognised with Royal Society Fellowship Professor Hayley Fowler has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of her pioneering work on climate change impacts. published on: 27 May 2026 Facts and figures
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