Japan PM joins fight for more female toilets in parliament
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is among about 60 female lawmakers who petitioned for more women’s toilets in the parliament building in return for their increased representation in parliament.
A record number of 73 women were elected to the 465-seat Lower House in October 2024; this surpassed the previous high of 54 in 2009.
Yasuko Komiyama, one of the opposition MPs, said that “long queues formed in front of the toilets before the plenary sessions started” and quoted another MP as saying that she “gave up” on going to the toilet before the session started.
There is one women’s toilet with two stalls near the plenary hall, but there are nine women’s toilets with 22 stalls in the entire building.
According to local media reports, there are a total of 12 men’s toilets, including 67 compartments and urinals, throughout the building.
Ms Komiyama, of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, said the current situation was “mostly inconvenient” as female staff and visitors also shared toilets.
“I want to raise my voice and prepare for the day when women will control more than 30 percent of the population.” [parliamentary seats] in the future,” he wrote in a post on Facebook.
Japan’s parliament building was built in 1936, a decade before women were granted the right to vote in 1945. The first women were appointed to parliament in 1946.
The parliament building is a large three-storey building, the central part of which is nine floors high. The building covers an area of 13,356 square meters (143,800 sq ft), which is equivalent to approximately two football fields, and has a total floor area of 53,464 square metres.
“If the administration is serious about women’s empowerment, I believe we can count on their understanding and cooperation,” Komiyama said, according to Japanese media. he said.
Lower House committee chairman Yasukazu Hamada “expressed willingness” to consider the proposal for more women’s restrooms, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
The Japanese government had previously set a target of having 30% of leadership roles in all sectors of society held by women by 2020, but by the end of that year that time frame was quietly pushed back by a decade.
Women currently hold about 16% of seats in the Lower House and nearly a third of seats in the Upper House (42 out of 125 seats).
Takaichi, who became Japan’s first female leader in October last year, has pledged to increase female representation in her cabinet to levels comparable to the top-ranked Scandinavian countries for female leadership.
Even then, he appointed only two other women to his 19-member cabinet.
Japan’s lack of women’s restrooms extends beyond the legislature.
Long queues outside women’s public toilets are a common sight across the country.
Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said his government would try to “improve women’s toilet facilities” to make Japan a society where “women can live their lives with peace of mind.”
