Tatsu Tanaka

Tatsu Tanaka
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
1946–1947
ConstituencyTottori
Personal details
Born14 August 1892
Yonago, Japan
Died30 August 1985(1985-08-30) (aged 93)

Tatsu Tanaka (Japanese: 田中たつ, 14 August 1892 – 30 August 1985) was a Japanese midwife and politician. She was one of the first group of women elected to the House of Representatives in 1946.[1]

Biography

Tanaka was born in Yonago in 1892. After finishing primary school, she began training as a nurse, graduating in 1911. She then attended Samba Gakko midwifery school,[2] later studying at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and qualifying as a public health nurse. She became chair of the Tottori Prefecture Nurses' Association and vice president of the Midwives' Association.[2]

After World War II, Tanaka was an independent candidate in Tottori in the 1946 general elections (the first in which women could vote), and was elected to the House of Representatives.[2] After being elected she joined the National Cooperative Party. She unsuccessfully ran for re-election in 1947.

She died in 1985.

References

  1. ^ Otsuka Kiyoe (2008) Japanese Women's Legislative and Administrative Reforms in the Postwar Era Bulletin of the Faculty of Education, Kagoshima University
  2. ^ a b c Analysis of the 1946 Japanese General Election United States Department of State, 1946, p106