Nearly 60 women lawmakers in Japan, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, have submitted a petition calling for more toilets in the parliament building to match their improved representation.
Although the number of women politicians rose at the last election and despite Takaichi becoming the first female prime minister in October, Japanese politics remains massively male-dominated.
This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles near the Diet’s main plenary session hall for the 73 women elected to the lower house, according to the petition.
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“Before plenary sessions start, truly so many women lawmakers have to form long queues in front of the restroom,” said Yasuko Komiyama from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
She was speaking after submitting the cross-party appeal signed by 58 women to Yasukazu Hamada, the chair of the lower house committee on rules and administration, earlier this month.
The Diet building was finished in 1936, nearly a decade before women got the vote in December 1945, following Japan’s defeat in the Second World War.