The head of one of the Japanese cities went on maternity leave for the first time in the countryʼs history. She herself developed such a procedure for the position of mayor

Japanese mayor Shoko Kawata has become the first mayor in the country to take maternity leave. She said that Yawata City employees are now guaranteed 16 weeks of maternity leave — there was no such procedure for the mayorʼs position, so she developed it herself.

Reuters writes about this.

"I was very surprised to learn that I was the first female mayor to go on maternity leave. It made me realize that there just werenʼt many young women or women in general who became mayors," Kawata said.

While Kawata is on leave, her deputy will handle the work of the city council, but she will continue to participate in making important decisions. Most residents of Yawata have supported the city leader, but she said she was disappointed by criticism online over media reports about her maternity leave.

In 2023, at the age of 33, she became Japanʼs youngest female mayor. She said she had planned to have children even then. She now believes the country needs reforms if Japan is to improve one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Japanese women have about 14 weeks of maternity leave and typically receive about two-thirds of their salary and a bonus for having a child.

Reuters clarifies that in the World Economic Forumʼs latest report on the gender gap, Japan ranked 118th out of 148 countries, and 125th in the category of "political participation".

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