In her bid to be Japan ‘s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi pledged to reduce the country’s substantial gender disparity in politics and increase female representation in the cabinet inline with Nordic countries.

Now that she has shattered the glass ceiling to be chosen leader of the ruling party on Saturday – setting her on course to emulate her hero Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female premier – Takaichi must try to deliver on promises her party has struggled to keep.

“The emergence of a single female leader alone may not drastically improve women’s standing in politics,” said Tohko Tanaka, a gender studies professor at the University of Tokyo, noting it was 26 years after Thatcher’s premiership before Britain had its second female leader, Theresa May.

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