Politics Two cubicles, 73 women: Japan’s female MPs fight for more toilets

[thomas]

Nearly sixty female lawmakers in Japan have made a straightforward request: more toilets. A petition signed by 58 women, including Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, notes that while the number of women in parliament has increased, the facilities have not. There are now 73 women in the lower house, but near the main chamber, they must share a single restroom with only two cubicles. Before plenary sessions, queues form quickly, making punctual attendance partly a matter of timing rather than politics. As MP Komiyama Yasuko remarked, waiting in line has become a regular part of the job.

The cross-party request was submitted to Hamada Yasukazu, who oversees house rules. While Japanese politics is slowly changing, some of the Diet building's most basic arrangements are still stuck in an earlier era.

The Diet building was completed in 1936, nearly a decade before women gained the vote in December 1945, following Japan's defeat in the Second World War. The entire lower house building has 12 men's toilets with 67 stalls and nine women's facilities with a total of 22 cubicles, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Japan ranked 118 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum's 2022 Global Gender Gap Report. Women are also grossly under-represented in business and the media. In elections, women candidates say that they often have to deal with sexist jibes, including being told that they should be at home looking after children. Seventy-two of 465 lower house lawmakers are women, up from 45 in the previous parliament, as are 74 of the 248 upper house members. The government's stated target is to ensure that women occupy at least 30% of legislative seats.

Two cubicles, 73 women, one long queue: Japan’s female MPs fight for more loos

PM Sanae Takaichi joins petition asking for better facilities for women to match improved representation

www.theguardian.com

Japan PM joins fight for more female toilets in parliament

Japan's parliament building was built in 1936, a decade before women were given the right to vote.

www.bbc.com

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/01/asia/japan-female-toilets-parliament-sanae-takaichi-hnk-intl