Popular Democracy in Japan: How Gender and Community are Changing Modern Electoral Politics

(Cornell University Press) This book argues that the exclusion of Japanese women from a full range of opportunities in public life provokes many of them to seek alternative outlets for self-expression, which then leads them to examine the political conditions that have pushed them there. Martin’s research suggests that study group participation increases women’s confidence in using various types of political participation, including voting, to pressure political elites for a more exclusive form of democracy. Martin is an associate professor of government and feminist, gender, and sexuality studies at Cornell University.