Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan's first female PM, but some say it is not a win for women

It took longer than expected, but Japan has finally appointed its first female prime minister.

In the world of male-dominated politics, Sanae Takaichi has broken through an incredibly tough glass ceiling.

Women make up just 16 per cent of the lower house seats in parliament, known as the Diet, and Japan routinely ranks as one of the worst countries for gender equality.

But despite the historic rise, Ms Takaichi's moment as the first female PM has been overshadowed and left many questioning if it's a win for women.

Most local media attention has focused on how she plans to tackle cost-of-living pressures, with flat wages, inflation and a weak yen all hurting households.

Her shot at becoming prime minister was also suddenly thrown into doubt despite winning the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

The LDP's coalition party, Komeito, quit the alliance, forcing it to find a new coalition partner.

During this period, there was a risk Ms Takaichi would miss out on the top job, as the opposition tried to form its own coalition to wrest control of parliament.

But on Monday, the LDP confirmed it was forming a new alliance with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, giving it just enough seats to form a new minority government and secure the prime ministership, which was confirmed on Tuesday.

And then there is the question of what Ms Takaichi's accession means for Japanese women.

The staunch conservative has promoted "traditional" family structures in a society where women are still expected to do much of the housework and child rearing.

She supports current laws that prohibit married couples from having different surnames, which overwhelmingly pressures women to take the man's name.

She also opposed laws that would allow a woman to become emperor.

"It's almost like she's popular despite her gender, rather than because of it," political expert Tina Burrett, from Sophia University, said.

Takaichi almost secured top job last year

Ms Takaichi almost secured the top job last year during a leadership ballot of the LDP, but was considered too conservative for mainstream voters.

Instead, the party chose Shigeru Ishiba, who scored a stunning own goal early into his tenure after a snap election caused the LDP coalition to lose majority government.

In minority government, the former prime minister was simply unable to score sufficient political points, so he announced his resignation.

This time, Ms Takaichi won convincingly over her mainstream rival, moderate Shinjiro Koizumi.

Professor Burrett says the pivot to the hardline conservative arose from desperation.

"She is a populist," Professor Burrett said.

"When the LDP is in trouble, they sort of move away from their slightly technocratic, somewhat more moderate, very grey types towards somebody who's got a bit more flair and might actually shake things up."

'Suck it up and work harder'

As well as being Japan's first female prime minister, Ms Takaichi has attracted international media attention for her idolisation of former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Like Ms Thatcher, Ms Takaichi would not regard herself as a feminist.

Like other comparable countries, Japan struggles with a low birth rate, as women choose career and other choices over children.

Those who do have children often fulfil the dual role of primary carer and worker.

This results in more than half of mothers leaving the workforce when they have their first child.

Japan is also renowned for its rigid work culture.

Work hours can be so brutal that the country has become infamous for "karoshi", which translates to death from overwork.

Working mothers are entitled to maternity leave, but many fear taking time off will hurt their career ambitions.

"There's a thing called mama harassment," Professor Burrett said.

"If you go on leave and you come back, then maybe you're given the worst tasks to do. So, people at that point decide to leave."

When she won her party's leadership ballot, Ms Takaichi announced she would scrap her work-life balance, and "work, work, work, work, work".

This may please voters who are losing faith in the LDP, but it also suggests Ms Takaichi will not prioritise workplace changes to help mothers strike a better work-life balance.

"The tone that she's setting is just basically suck it up and work harder," Professor Burrett said.

Takaichi proposes 'responsible, aggressive' spending

A key difference between Ms Thatcher and Ms Takaichi is in fiscal policy.

Ms Thatcher was a saver, Ms Takaichi is a spender.

To revive the ailing Japanese economy, she's proposed "responsible, aggressive and wise spending".

Whether it will succeed and draw voters back to the LDP will be perhaps her biggest challenge.

The other problem is how effective the new coalition will be.

Political expert Paul Nedeau from Temple University said the old ally, Komeito, was much more in tune with the mainstream public than the new coalition partner, Nippon Ishin.

"Komeito brought two things to the LDP coalition," he said.

"One was policy moderation. They were very good at pulling the LDP back from some of its more conservative instincts that were close to party members but not really on the radar of the general public.

"Komeito was also very good at helping provide votes for the LDP. They really helped inflate that ship."

He said Nippon Ishin was very much a conservative regional party that would do little to elevate the LDP's standing with the mainstream.

"This is still a minority government and it's not quite clear if they're built to last, really."