Japan's Female Lawmakers Demand More Bathrooms

Japan's parliament has run into a somewhat basic problem as more women win office: There aren't enough toilets for them. Now 58 lawmakers—Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi among them—have formally asked the lower house to add more women's restrooms in the National Diet Building, arguing that the facilities haven't kept pace with their growing ranks. The petition notes that near the main chamber there is just one women's bathroom with two stalls serving the 72 women who currently serve in the lower house.

The building overall has 67 stalls and urinals for men and 22 stalls for women, Japan News reports. "Before plenary sessions start, truly so many women lawmakers have to form long queues in front of the restroom," CBS News quotes opposition lawmaker Yasuko Komiyama as saying. She adds, per Japan News: "We sometimes have to give up on using the restroom and just hold it." The building dates to 1936, nearly a decade before Japanese women gained the right to vote, and its design reflects an era when politics was almost exclusively male.