Whether or not she wins the 2016 race for the White House, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is an inspiration for women with political aspirations. But not every country is ready for a woman to take the top job.

A poll by Japanese daily Nikkei Shimbun shows 36.4 percent of the respondents do not expect to see a woman prime minister in Japan in a decade or two, because there are no qualified woman candidates among the lawmakers for the job today. In fact, there are very few women in the parliament to begin with.

The lower house, the more powerful chamber of Japan's parliament, has 45 women, or just 9.5 percent of the total. Japan has lagged behind much of the world in terms of women's power in national politics. The global average was 22.4 percent. As of Jan 1, the Inter-Parliamentary Union ranked Japan 113 out of 190 countries as far as woman representatives in the lower house were concerned.

Some pessimists even say they do not expect a woman to lead Japan in their lifetime. Life expectancy in Japan is 80.21 years for men and 86.61 years for women. More Japanese women, however, are interested in taking the torch in the male-dominated political arena, though the glass ceilings remain. A record number of women - 1,103 - won seats in the 295 city assemblies in the April polls, up from 1,040 in the previous polls in 2011. This means that 16.1 percent of Japan's city assembly members are women.

Japan set a goal in 2005 to have women occupying at least 30 percent of the seats in the parliament and local assemblies. That goal is still a distant dream. Nearly half of the woman lawmakers in the lower house told an Asahi Shimbun survey that the main hurdle for women pursuing political careers is household duties, especially looking after children and elderly parents.

The oral attack on an unmarried woman lawmaker by male colleagues in Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in June highlights the gender discrimination, tied to delayed motherhood, in Japan. When Ayaka Shiomura, 36, of Your Party was addressing the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on June 18 seeking support for maternity leave benefits, delayed marriage and other women-related issues, male Liberal Democratic Party members jeered her, passing comments such as: "Hey you, hurry up and get married!" and "Can't you have babies?"

Under pressure from the public, an LDP assembly member apologized to Shiomura and resigned from the party. LDP leader and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, too, apologized to Your Party for the incident. The case reflects both greater awareness of women's issues in Japan and the pervasiveness of traditional chauvinist attitudes in business and politics.

As part of his drive to re-invigorate Japan's economy Abe has introduced a policy to make the country a place "where women can shine". He has pledged to put women in 30 percent of senior posts in all sectors by 2020. Abe's call, though not mandatory, has been heeded by some institutions.

A 40-something lecturer in one of Tokyo's universities is seeking tenure. But he told me that his dream is under threat, because the university is committed to giving 30 percent of the faculty posts to women. This means all new openings will be for women because the faculty comprises very few women now.

People believe that through legislation and positive discrimination such as quotas, the government can help elevate women to positions they deserve. Women's groups in Japan have been pushing for quotas to increase the number of women in politics since 1992. But their campaigns have mostly fallen on deaf ears, because the government has never officially endorsed quotas for women in politics.

Ever since Mizuho Fukushima stepped down as leader of the Social Democratic Party in 2013, the leaders of all Japanese political parties have been men. And Japan does not have a potential woman heavyweight like German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Republic of Korea President Park Geun-Hye on the horizon.

The author is ChinaDaily's Tokyo bureau chief. caihong@chinadaily.com.cn