Nearly 60 women lawmakers in Japan petition for more toilets in the Diet building, highlighting the gap between rising female representation and outdated facilities.
TOKYO: Nearly 60 women lawmakers in Japan have submitted a petition calling for more toilets in the parliament building to match their improved representation.
The petition, signed by 58 MPs including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, was submitted to the lower house committee on rules and administration earlier this month.
It highlights that only one lavatory with two cubicles serves the lower house’s 73 women near the main plenary session hall.
“Before plenary sessions start, truly so many women lawmakers have to form long queues in front of the restroom,” said opposition MP Yasuko Komiyama.
The Diet building was completed in 1936, nearly a decade before women gained the right to vote in Japan.
The entire lower house has 12 men’s toilets with 67 stalls and just nine women’s facilities with 22 cubicles, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Currently, 72 of 465 lower house lawmakers are women, up from 45 in the previous parliament.
The government’s target is for women to occupy at least 30% of legislative seats.
Prime Minister Takaichi had expressed a desire for “Nordic” levels of gender balance in her cabinet.
She ultimately appointed just two other women to her 19-strong cabinet.
Takaichi has spoken about raising awareness of women’s health issues, including her own menopause experience.
She is seen as socially conservative, opposing changes to a law requiring married couples to share a surname.
Komiyama said the toilet demand symbolises both progress and ongoing failure in gender equality.
“In a way, this symbolises how the number of female lawmakers has increased,” she said, hoping for more equality in other areas.
Japan ranked 118 out of 148 nations in this year’s World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report.
