Skip to my loo

Gender-wise, there is unequal representation in any country’s parliament, with male lawmakers outnumbering their female counterparts.

In Malaysia, women’s rights organizations and civil society groups are campaigning for more women legislators. The campaign dubbed Project 30 aims to achieve 30-percent female representation from the current 13.5 percent in the House of Representatives and 18 percent in the Senate, according to The Star.

Japan’s Diet is also dominated by male legislators. Of the 465 members of the Lower House, only 72 are women, while in the Upper House, only 74 of the 248 members are women, Agence France-Presse reports.

Ironically, these few women lawmakers have a more important agenda than gender parity in parliament.

Last month, 58 female lawmakers filed a petition with the Lower House’s committee on rules and administration demanding additional restrooms. The petitioners included Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the first female leader of Japan.

Apparently, the few female lawmakers have to form a long queue to use a women’s restroom near the Lower House’s main plenary session hall in central Tokyo, The Japan Times reports. That’s because it is the only restroom near the session hall for them and it has only two cubicles.

The situation is “often inconvenient” because female staff and visitors share the loo, said lawmaker Yasuko Komiyama from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, BBC reports.

In Japan, the dearth of women’s restrooms extends beyond the legislative chamber, with long lines in front of women’s public restrooms a common sight nationwide, according to the BBC.