Why Right-Wing Female Leaders Are Rising Worldwide
— 7 Factors Behind the Trend

Why have so many of today’s most prominent female leaders risen from the political right rather than the left?
This article explores a pattern identified by the New York Times Chinese Edition—one that challenges the assumption that women’s political ascent naturally reflects progressive social change.

By situating Japan’s Sanae Takaichi within this wider global landscape, the analysis shows that the rise of female leaders is often driven less by gender equality itself and more by political crisis, party incentives, and shifting public expectations.

The seven factors below help explain why conservative or center-right parties have, paradoxically, produced more female leaders in many advanced democracies.

■ 1. A Striking Pattern in the G7: Women at the Top, Mostly from the Right

Over the past decade, women have become far more visible in global politics. At first glance, this seems like evidence of steady progress on gender equality. Yet the New York Times Chinese edition draws attention to a counterintuitive pattern: with one brief exception, every G7 country that has had a woman in its highest office did so under a conservative or center-right government.

Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, and Liz Truss emerged from the UK Conservative Party. Angela Merkel came from Germany’s center-right CDU. Canada’s Kim Campbell belonged to the Progressive Conservative Party. France’s Édith Cresson, from the Socialist Party, served fleetingly and remains the outlier. Japan’s recent example, Sanae Takaichi, aligns once again with this conservative trend.

Left-leaning parties—despite their long-standing commitment to gender equality, diversity, and quotas—have produced virtually no female heads of government in the G7. This sharp divergence sets the stage for the broader analysis.

■ 2. Female Leaders Often Emerge in Moments of Political Crisis

The NYT highlights a shared pattern: women tend to rise to top leadership roles during moments of political turbulence or institutional fatigue.

Thatcher took office amid deep economic turmoil. Merkel inherited a party in crisis following the CDU donation scandal. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni rose in the aftermath of chronic fragmentation and widespread disillusionment. These moments created openings for leaders who symbolized rupture—even if their policies were firmly conservative.

In Japan, Takaichi’s ascent benefited from factional distrust and ideological recalibration within the ruling party. These are not stories of seamless progress; they are stories of political systems hitting their limits and turning to symbolic leadership as a reset.

■ 3. Female Leaders Are Not Necessarily Progressive

A crucial point is that women in power do not form an ideological bloc. Their political trajectories differ sharply.

Merkel, for example, adopted relatively liberal stances on migration during key periods. By contrast, Meloni and Takaichi foreground national identity, traditional values, and a hard security line.

Takaichi speaks about women’s isolation in politics, yet supports Japan’s single-surname system for married couples and prioritizes national security over gender reforms. These contradictions reveal that female leadership does not inherently advance women’s rights—and may, at times, reinforce conservative agendas.

More broadly, when women champion tough policies, their gender can soften public perceptions of those policies. A woman advancing a hardline agenda is often seen as less threatening than a man doing the same—an implicit political advantage.

■ 4. Why Left-Wing Parties Struggle to Produce Female Leaders

On the surface, left-wing parties—with their quota systems, gender platforms, and progressive ideals—seem more likely to elevate female leaders. In practice, the opposite occurs.

Comparative research shows a consistent pattern: left-leaning parties have increased the number of female legislators through institutional reforms. Yet the inner circles that decide top leadership remain dominated by long-standing male networks—union leaders, veteran strategists, and institutional gatekeepers.

Even in parties where women proliferate at the grassroots and mid-levels, the highest contests for power often consolidate around men. Surveys across European social democrats and greens show the same: diversity at the base does not always translate into diversity at the top.

As a result, women who do rise within left-leaning parties often come from more conservative or pragmatic factions—those comfortable with national security themes or fiscal restraint. This explains why the parties most vocal about gender equality rarely produce female leaders.

■ 5.Why Early Approval Ratings Tend to Be High (“The Honeymoon Effect”)

Another recurring dynamic is the “honeymoon effect”: female leaders often enjoy strong early approval ratings. This stems partly from a symbolic “reset” after male-dominated leadership and partly from gendered stereotypes—women perceived as cleaner, calmer, or more honest.

Media narratives amplify this, portraying new female leaders as a refreshing contrast to their predecessors.

Yet this goodwill is fragile. High expectations can quickly flip into disappointment if policy outcomes fail to match symbolic promise. Strong early approval numbers do not necessarily translate into long-term stability.

■ 6. Situating Sanae Takaichi in Japan’s Political Landscape

Through the lens of the NYT’s framework, Takaichi’s rise becomes clearer. Her ascent is not simply a story of “breaking through because she is a woman,” but rather the product of structural shifts inside Japan’s conservative establishment.

Japan’s political system has long been dominated by male networks, and the sudden appearance of a woman at the top carries significant symbolic weight. Takaichi’s political identity—rooted in conservative nationalism and hard security—fits neatly within the existing LDP architecture.

What distinguishes her is the fusion of this ideological posture with the symbolic currency of being Japan’s first female prime minister. The combination projects both firmness and novelty—a political package that resonates even with voters skeptical of hardline positions.

■ 7. What the Rise of Female Leaders Really Indicates

The overarching message of the NYT analysis is that the rise of female leaders is not a straightforward triumph of gender equality.

Instead, it reflects a convergence of political crises, shifting party incentives, public fatigue, and the search for new symbolic anchors in moments of institutional strain.

Women at the top can embody hope for change—but they can also make conservative agendas appear more palatable. Gender itself cannot predict whether a leader will be progressive or regressive.

Evaluating leaders like Sanae Takaichi, therefore, requires moving beyond gender and scrutinizing:

• the political structures that enabled their rise

• the agendas they advance once in power

For voters and analysts, clarity begins not with optimism or disappointment about “women in power,” but with an understanding of the deeper forces shaping when and why female leaders emerge.

■ Primary Source

• The New York Times Chinese Edition.
  “女性右翼领导人为何崛起？ (Why Are Right-Wing Female Leaders Rising?)”, November 12, 2025.

■ Key Academic References

• Keith, D., Gisselquist, R. M., Thomas, D., & Gains, F. (2016).
  Left Parties and Women’s Representation in Europe.
  Party Politics (SAGE Publications).
• Dassonneville, R. (2021).
  Female leader popularity and the vote, 1996–2016.
  European Journal of Politics and Gender.
• Reyes-Housholder, C. (2020).
  A theory of gender’s role on presidential approval ratings.
  Political Research Quarterly.
• Miyazaki, K., Takayasu, M., & Takayasu, H. (2022).
  Political honeymoon effect on social media: Characterizing reactions to prime minister changes in Japan.
  arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.02827.