Female Lawmakers in Japan Lobby for More Toilets in Parliament
Nearly 60 female lawmakers, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, submitted a cross-party petition calling for more toilets for women in Japan's Diet building to better reflect increased female representation. The petition, signed by 58 women, was delivered to Yasukazu Hamada, chair of the lower house committee on rules and administration.
Currently, there is only one two-cubicle toilet for women in the lower house near the Diet’s main plenary hall, serving 73 female members. In contrast, the Diet building, completed in 1936, has 12 men’s toilets with 67 stalls and nine women’s facilities with 22 cubicles in the lower house.
Women hold 72 of 465 lower house seats and 74 of 248 upper house seats, while the government has set a target of at least 30% female representation in the legislature.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who became Japan’s first female prime minister in October, had previously advocated for Nordic levels of gender balance but appointed only two other women to her 19-member cabinet. She is seen as socially conservative on issues such as surname rules for married couples and male-only imperial succession and has spoken about menopause health.
Japan ranked 118th out of 148 in this year’s World Economic Forum global gender gap report. The petition reflects both progress in female political representation and ongoing challenges surrounding gender equality in Japan.
