(NCS) — Japan’s youngest elected feminine mayor is making history once more – by taking time off to grow to be a first-time mother.
Shoko Kawata, the 35-year-old mayor of Yawata metropolis in Kyoto Prefecture, has introduced she’ll be taking maternity leave round the coming start of her baby, placing herself at the forefront of a nationwide debate and exposing a obtrusive hole in Japan’s traditionally patriarchal labor and political programs.
Kawata, who was elected in 2023, is resulting from give start in mid-September and can take 16 weeks of maternity leave – eight weeks earlier than and eight weeks after childbirth – in what’s believed to be a first for an incumbent mayor in Japan.
While maternity leave is accessible to public staff, there is no authorized framework guaranteeing leave for elected officers.
Kawata mentioned she hopes her breakthrough can grow to be a “catalyst for changing the system” as Japan grapples with a quickly declining start fee and protracted gender gaps in political management. The nation elected its first female prime minister simply final yr, and ladies at present make up lower than 15% of the House of Representatives, in keeping with IPU Parline, which tracks international knowledge on nationwide parliaments.
“Through this, I hope to encourage not only workers, but also business owners and managers, all those involved in various types of work to embrace these life events, child-rearing and childbirth … while striking a proper balance with their work,” Kawata advised NCS.
Kawata plans to nominate a deputy to fill in throughout her absence main the metropolis of practically 70,000 folks, which sits about 285 miles southwest from Tokyo. She nonetheless plans to examine her emails commonly whereas taking care of her new child at dwelling.
Criticism over Kawata’s deliberate maternity leave bubbled up on Japanese social media after she introduced it, with some arguing a public official’s absence from the office is a waste of taxpayers’ cash. But Kawata mentioned these she’s spoken to in particular person have been “incredibly understanding.”
“In fact, they’ve been telling me to go ahead and take it. The staff at the government office, as well as members of the public, have been telling me without hesitation that I should just take a break,” she mentioned.
Slow to vary
Many of Japan’s attitudes in the direction of authorities are based mostly on “very old-fashioned assumptions” that don’t maintain tempo with the wants of modern-day girls in the workforce, in keeping with Sawako Shirahase, a sociology professor at University of Tokyo.
“The legal framework itself doesn’t assume that mayors or the head of the public office would take maternity leave,” she advised NCS. “But at the same time, no one can prohibit (someone) from taking the leave … so it’s quite a gray zone.”
Shirahase mentioned she hoped future leaders of Japan can look to Kawata to foster a tradition of higher work-life steadiness each in the non-public and public sector.
Stefanie Schwarte, a researcher at the Japan Center of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität mentioned that whereas Japan has been sluggish to vary by way of gender equality, extra girls are breaking conventional norms in politics.
In the previous 5 years, the variety of feminine mayors grew from round 50 to virtually 80 out of over 1,700 municipalities as of early 2026, mentioned Schwarte, citing knowledge on feminine participation in native governance.
“We can also see more and more female mayors who stay on for a second, third, fourth term,” she mentioned, including they’re an instance to the subsequent technology that anybody – man or girl – can serve their communities and do a very good job.
The debate over the Yawata mayor’s maternity leave additionally is available in the context of the Japanese authorities’s decadeslong struggle towards declining start charges. The nation logged 671,236 births of Japanese nationals in 2025, a brand new document low marking the tenth straight yr of decline.
Efforts to extend births have accelerated in recent times as the full scale of the population crisis has grow to be clearer, with new insurance policies starting from childbirth and housing subsidies to encouraging more fathers to take paternity leave.
But many consultants have attributed Japan’s plunging start charges to its deeply-ingrained overwork culture alongside the rising value of residing. Many younger folks of childbearing age might select to give attention to their careers reasonably than beginning a household, as staff throughout numerous sectors report punishing hours, excessive stress from supervisors, and, in excessive circumstances, “karoshi” – a time period which means “death by overwork” used round circumstances of deadly work-induced coronary heart and mind situations.
Kawata advised NCS change stays sluggish as Japanese workplaces and authorities programs are nonetheless ill-suited to the wants of ladies contemplating childbirth and motherhood.
The nation’s gender hole in the office is barely larger than different high-income nations, with about 56% of ladies collaborating in the labor drive, in comparison with about 72% of males, in keeping with the World Bank.
“If they want to have a baby, they have to give up their career, or if they want to pursue a career, they have to give up having a baby,” Kawata mentioned, arguing girls shouldn’t be compelled into an “either-or choice.”
“We are now working to improve this situation little by little, and I believe we are moving toward the design of systems aimed at achieving proper gender equality.”
The-NCS-Wire
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