Tokyo — Nearly 60 female lawmakers in Japan, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, have filed a petition calling for more restrooms in the parliament building to accommodate their larger representation.

Although the number of female politicians increased in the last election — and despite Takaichi becoming the first female prime minister in October — Japanese politics is still dominated by men.

This is reflected in the existence of only one toilet containing two cubicles near the main plenary hall of parliament for the 73 women elected to the lower house, according to the petition.

“Before the plenary sessions start, so many female deputies have to form long lines in front of the toilets,” said Yasuko Komiyama, from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.

She was speaking after earlier this month she presented a cross-party appeal signed by 58 women to Yasukazu Hamada, chairman of the House Rules and Administration Committee.

The Parliament Building was completed in 1936, almost a decade before women were given the right to vote in December 1945 following Japan’s defeat in World War II.

The entire lower building of the house has 12 men’s toilets with 67 cubicles and nine women’s toilets with a total of 22 cubicles, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

Japan ranked 118th out of 148 this year in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. Women are also extremely underrepresented in business and the media.

During elections, women candidates say they often face sexist taunts, including being told they should be at home looking after the children.

In the last election in 2024, 73 women were elected to the 465-seat lower house — one has since left — compared to 45 in the previous parliament. There are 74 women in the upper house of 248 places.

The government’s goal is for women to occupy at least 30 percent of seats in parliament.

Takaichi, an admirer of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, said before she became prime minister that she wanted “Nordic” levels of gender balance in her cabinet.

But in the end, she appointed only two more women to her 19-member cabinet.

Takaichi, 64, said she hopes to raise awareness of women’s health issues and spoke candidly about her experience with menopause.

But she is still considered socially conservative.

She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to have the same surname and wants the imperial family to retain only male succession.

The growing demand for women’s restrooms can be seen as a sign of progress for Japan, although it also reflects the nation’s failure to achieve gender equality, Komiyama said.

“This is kind of symbolic of how the number of female lawmakers has increased,” Komiyama told reporters, according to her party’s website, adding that she hoped for greater equality in other areas of life.