Japan PM joins parliamentary fight for more women’s toilets

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is one of about 60 female lawmakers who have petitioned for more women’s toilets in the parliament building to accommodate their growing representation in the legislative body.

In October 2024, a record 73 women were elected to the 465-seat House of Commons, surpassing the previous high of 54 women in 2009.

One opposition lawmaker, Yasuko Komiyayama, said “long queues often formed in front of the restrooms before plenary sessions began,” and quoted another lawmaker as saying she “gave up” using the restroom before the session began.

There is a two-stall women’s toilet near the plenary hall, while there are nine women’s toilets with 22 stalls throughout the building itself.

There are 12 men’s toilets, 67 stalls and urinals in the building, local media reported.

Ms Komiyayama of the opposition Cadet Party said the current situation was “often inconvenient” because female staff and visitors also shared toilets.

“I want to speak out and prepare for the day when women will hold more than 30 per cent (of parliamentary seats),” she posted on Facebook.

The Japanese Capitol was built in 1936, ten years before women gained the right to vote in 1945. In 1946, the first women were appointed to Congress.

The Parliament Building is a massive three-story building with a central section that rises to nine stories. The building occupies 13,356 square meters (143,800 square feet), equivalent to about two football pitches, and has a total floor area of ​​53,464 square meters.

“If the government is serious about promoting women’s empowerment, I believe we can rely on their understanding and cooperation,” Komiyayama said, according to Japanese media.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, House of Representatives committee chairman Yasukazu Hamada “expressed willingness” to consider a proposal to increase the number of women’s restrooms.

The Japanese government had earlier set a goal for women to hold 30% of leadership positions in all sectors of society by 2020, but at the end of that year, this timetable was quietly postponed by ten years.

Women currently hold nearly 16% of the seats in the House of Commons and about a third of the seats in the House of Lords, or 42 out of 125 seats.

Takaichi, who became Japan’s first female leader last October, has pledged to increase female representation in the cabinet to a level comparable to the Nordic countries, which hold the highest positions for female leadership.

Even so, she appointed only two other women to join her 19-member cabinet.

In Japan, the shortage of women’s restrooms extends beyond the Legislative Yuan.

Long queues at women’s restrooms are a common sight across the country.

Former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba once said that his government would study “strengthening women’s toilet facilities” to make Japan a society where “women can live with peace of mind.”