Japan’s prime minister joins female lawmakers in fight for more toilets in parliament

By Laura Sharman, Yumi Asada, CNN

(CNN) — Japan’s prime minister has joined more than 50 of her fellow female legislators to push for more ladies’ toilets in parliament, saying recent increases in women’s representation have led to long queues for the bathroom.

Just two cubicles currently serve 73 female members at Tokyo’s male-dominated House of Representatives, according to a petition filed by female members of parliament on December 12.

The country’s first female leader Sanae Takaichi, elected last year, is among 58 lawmakers to back the request, which has garnered support from members across seven parties and independent groups, according to the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.

“Before the main assembly session, a truly large number of female lawmakers line up in front of the women’s restroom,” female CDP member Yasuko Komiyama said.

Japan is a culturally conservative country, where both politics and workplaces have long been dominated by older men. It also maintained its low position on the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Index, ranking 118th out of 148 countries.

Last year saw the historic election of Takaichi, and a rise in female lawmakers to 73. Women still hold just under 16 percent of seats, in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet, according to IPU Parline.

The undersupply of toilets is “a critical issue that could potentially impact the conduct of proceedings and the performance of duties,” the cross-party petition read.

In a Facebook post, Komiyama said the issue impacts not only female lawmakers, but also female staff and a growing number of women journalists.

Female opposition MP Tomoe Ishii added in an Instagram post that the shortage has “long been an issue.”

“There is a prevailing reluctance to raise the issue of adding more women’s restrooms in workplaces and schools within society,” she added.

The National Diet building, in Tokyo, predates women’s suffrage in the country.

Completed in 1936, it stood for almost a decade before women gained the right to vote in 1945, followed by the election of the first female MP a year later.

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