女性候補者の数値目標断念　改正案にセクハラ防止規定―超党派議連

　女性の政治参画推進を目指す超党派議員連盟（会長・中川正春元文部科学相）は１８日、「政治分野における男女共同参画推進法」の改正案をまとめた。候補者に占める女性割合の数値目標の設定を各党に義務付ける規定については、自民党や日本維新の会の反対で断念。女性議員増に向けた環境整備のため、議員や候補者に対するセクハラなどの防止規定を盛り込んだ。
　数値目標をめぐっては、自民党は「現職議員が各選挙区にいるため、女性に代えることはできない」と主張。維新も「目標値の義務化は難しい」と唱えた。
　議連事務局長を務める国民民主党の矢田稚子参院議員は、記者団に「議連としては、クオータ制を含めて今後も改正を重ねていきたい」と将来的な導入に意欲を示した。（2021/05/18-20:30）

A suprapartisan league of Japanese lawmakers promoting women's participation in politics has given up on including in an amendment bill a clause on numerical targets for female political candidates.
   The ruling Liberal Democratic Party opposed the idea of obliging political parties to set targets on the proportion of women in all candidates they field in elections, citing the difficulty in replacing many incumbent male lawmakers and local assembly members across the country with female candidates.
   Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) also claimed that it would be difficult to make it obligatory to set such numerical targets.
   Instead, the bill to revise the law on the promotion of gender equality in the political field, which was compiled by the suprapartisan lawmaker group on Tuesday, included a clause for preventing sexual harassment against lawmakers, local assembly members and political candidates, in an effort to improve the environment of the political arena and boost the number of female politicians.
   The bill also calls on the state and local governments to devise measures aimed at helping politicians balance their work with parenting or nursing care, such as expanding the scope of acceptable reasons for being absent from parliamentary or local assembly sessions.