Japan’s parliament will get two more women’s toilet cubicles, officials said on Thursday, after a petition by 58 female MPs called for more facilities to match their improved representation.
In Japan, gender roles are rigid and women are chronically underrepresented in politics, with just 68 women lawmakers elected out of 465 seats up for grabs at the last lower house election in February.
The government says it wants to have women in at least 30 percent of the legislative seats.
“The toilet next to the main chamber has only two individual cubicles for women, but the number will be expanded to four” after the current Diet session ends on July 17, a lower house spokesperson told AFP.
She added, without wishing to be named, that plans to add more stalls on other floors were also under consideration.
“I welcome the move to improve, if only a little, the sheer shortage of women’s restrooms for Diet staff and secretaries as well,” Hideko Nishioka, the only woman on the committee involved in approving the expansion, told local media.
