Japan poised for first woman prime minister

Japan is on the verge of making history. Sanae Takaichi, a 64-year-old hardline conservative once known for drumming in a college heavy metal band, has been elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and is expected to soon become the country's first female prime minister. Her rise is being described as nothing short of extraordinary, though not without controversy.

- Agencies

Takaichi's victory came in a heated party leadership contest on Saturday, defeating rivals including the youthful Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, son of a former prime minister, and the more subdued Yo-shimasa Hayashi. With the LDP still the largest force in parliament, she is highly likely to be confirmed as premier later this month, succeeding outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. That will make her Japan's fifth leader in just five years.

But her impending premiership is not being celebrated as a feminist triumph. Analysts and critics, quoted by Associated Press, Reuters, BBC and The Washington Post, warn that Takaichi is no champion of women's rights despite shattering Japan's highest political glass ceiling. She has consistently opposed reforms such as allowing married couples to keep separate surnames, a 19th-century rule that overwhelmingly forces women to adopt their husband's name. She is also against same-sex marriage and female succession to the imperial throne. Women activists fear her loyalty to the LDP's old guard could stall gender equality even further in a country ranked 118th out of 148 in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index.