| PROFILE |
Mizuho Fukushima
Member of the House of Councilors / Lawyer /
Leader of Social Democratic Party
Ms. Fukushima was born in 1955 in Nobeoka, Miyazaki prefecture. She graduated from the Tokyo University Faculty of Law in 1980 and registered as a lawyer in 1987. As a lawyer she has addressed numerous issues, including the dual surname system, discrimination against children born outside of marriage, discrimination against foreigners, and sexual harassment. Ms. Fukushima was elected for the first time to the House of Councilors from the Social Democratic Party with top proportional representation in July 1998. She is a member of the Budget Committee, Health, Labor and Welfare Committee, Committee on Judicial Affairs, and Research Committee on Aged Society with Declining Birthrate and Society of Cooperative Way of Life[:1]. She became Party leader in November 2003. She has served as Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety, Social Affairs, and Gender Equality since 2009. In 2010, she was dismissed because she refused to sign a cabinet resolution that specifies the construction of a new military base in Henoko.
Ms. Fukushima's favorite saying is: "We can't change the weather for tomorrow, but we can change politics for tomorrow."
Recent publications include: "Musumetachi-e (From mother to daughters)" (Iwasaki Shoten) and "Han Hinkon to Hakengiri (anti-poverty and temp worker layoffs)" (Nanatsumori Shokan).
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