A method for manufacturing a polarizing film, comprising at least the following steps sequentially: a swelling step, a
dyeing step, a first crosslinking and stretching step, a second crosslinking and stretching step, and a third crosslinking and stretching step for a
polyvinyl alcohol film. The
polyvinyl alcohol film has a thickness of 5–100 μm and an average
degree of polymerization of 2000–4000 for the
polyvinyl alcohol contained in the film. In the swelling step, the polyvinyl
alcohol film is swelled by immersion in water at 10–50°C. In the
dyeing step, the film is immersed in an
aqueous solution containing a total of 0.5–3% by
mass of
iodine and
potassium iodide at 10–50°C to allow the
iodine-based dichroic
pigment to penetrate the polyvinyl
alcohol film. Simultaneously, uniaxial stretching is performed to achieve a total
stretch ratio of 2–3 times. In the first crosslinking and stretching step… Uniaxial stretching is performed in an
aqueous solution containing 1-5% by
mass boric acid at temperature T1, so that the stretching ratio in this step is 1.1-1.3 times and the total stretching ratio is 2.5-3.5 times. In the aforementioned second crosslinking stretching step, uniaxial stretching is performed in an
aqueous solution containing 1-5% by
mass boric acid at temperature T2, so that the stretching ratio in this step is 1.3-1.8 times and the total stretching ratio is 4-6 times. In the aforementioned third crosslinking stretching step, uniaxial stretching is performed in an aqueous solution containing 1-5% by mass
boric acid at temperature T3, so that the stretching ratio in this step is 1.1-1.3 times and the total stretching ratio is 4.5-7 times. The above T1, T2 and T3 satisfy the following equations (1) and (2). Thus, even when the average
degree of polymerization of PVA is low, production stability can be maintained, and a polarizing film with excellent polarization performance and
low shrinkage stress can be obtained. 25≤T1≤45 (1), T1<T2<T3≤75 (2).