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Shigeyo Takeuchi

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On December 13, 1926, the 2nd anniversary of the Women's Suffrage League was held. Front row, from left: Fusae Ichikawa, Shigeri Kaneko, Etsuko Ohira. Middle row, from left: Kiiko Yagihashi, Ochimi Kubushiro, Mako Ogihara. Back row, from left: Yoshiko Tanaka, Shigeyo Takeuchi, Kyoko Okada.

Shigeyo Takeuchi (竹内茂代) (August 31, 1881 – December 15, 1975) was a Japanese physician. She was one of the first women elected to the Japanese Diet, though she only served one term.

Early life and education

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Takeuchi was born Shigeyo Ide on August 31, 1881 in what is now Kawakami, Nagano. She was the oldest daughter of a local politician. As a child, she briefly attended elementary school, but stopped to take care of her siblings. After contracting alopecia, she went to a hospital in Tokyo, where she was inspired to become a physician by two female physicians who worked there.[1] She studied under Yoshioka Yayoi, and graduated from the Tokyo Women's Medical University in 1908. She was a member of the university's first graduating class.[2] She married Kohei Takeuchi in 1916.

Career

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Takeuchi opened a private practice in Shinjuku in 1919. She also became active in the Japanese women's suffrage movement, and was a member of the Japanese Women's Suffrage League with Ichikawa Fusae.[3] In 1933 she earned a doctorate from Tokyo Imperial University.

In 1946 she was elected to the House of Representatives as a member of the Liberal Party. She was one of the first women to be elected to the Diet, and led the Female Diet Members' club.[4] She focused on issues related to health care, but also advocated for eugenics.[5] Takeuchi was purged from office later that year and did not reenter politics.

Takeuchi died on December 15, 1975.

References

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  1. ^ Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey; Harvey, Joy Dorothy (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-92040-7.
  2. ^ 明治~昭和,367日誕生日大事典, 20世紀日本人名事典,新訂 政治家人名事典. "竹内 茂代(タケウチ シゲヨ)とは". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-12-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Shibahara, Taeko (2015). Japanese Women and the Transnational Feminist Movement before World War II: Japanese Women in the Interwar Transnational Feminist Movement. Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-1040-5.
  4. ^ Mackie, Vera (2003-02-26). Feminism in Modern Japan: Citizenship, Embodiment and Sexuality. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52719-4.
  5. ^ Pollock, Griselda (2005-08-12). Generations and Geographies in the Visual Arts: Feminist Readings. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-76849-3.