13 Facts About Takako Doi

Takako Doi was a prominent Japanese politician from 1980 until her retirement in 2005.

Takako Doi was the first female Lower House Speaker in Japan, the highest position a female politician has ever held in the country's modern history, as well as the country's first female Opposition Leader.

Takako Doi was elected to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Diet, as a member of the Japan Socialist Party in 1969, representing the 2nd district of Hyogo.

Takako Doi spent her first ten years in the House on the sidelines, but came to national attention in 1980 when she was highly critical of Japan's unequal treatment of women, specifically about women-only home economics degrees and the father-dominated family registration law.

Takako Doi pressured the Diet to sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1985.

Takako Doi became Vice Chair of the JSP in 1983 and the first female leader of a political party division in Japanese history in 1986, as chair of the JSP Central Policy Division.

However, the coalition collapsed in 1996 and, following a disastrous electoral defeat for the JSP later that year, Takako Doi returned to lead the party.

Takako Doi was a popular opposition politician, but as party leader she saw her party collapse.

Takako Doi's chief act as leader was to rename the JSP as the Social Democratic Party, in 1996.

Moderating the characters for "Socialism" by adding "Democratic" to the party name, Takako Doi said that she wanted to form a more moderate party and bring more women into politics.

Takako Doi was responsible for recruiting young women with grass-roots activist backgrounds, such as Kiyomi Tsujimoto, into the party.

Takako Doi lost her directly elected seat in the House of Representatives in the 2003 election but remained in the House, having won a seat under the proportional representation system.

Takako Doi died in a hospital in Hyogo Prefecture of pneumonia on 20 September 2014, at the age of 85.