by MARI YAMAGUCHI and FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s gender equality and children’s minister called the country’s record low birth rate and population decline a national crisis and accused the male-dominated Japanese parliament of “indifference and ignorance.”
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Seiko Noda said the dwindling number of children born in Japan is an existential threat, and if this continues, Japan will not have enough troops, police or firefighters for decades to come. She said the number of births last year hit a record low of 810,000, down from 2.7 million after the end of World War II.
“People say children are national treasures. … They say women are important to gender equality. But they’re just saying it,” Noda, 61, told The Associated Press at the cabinet office at the government building in central Tokyo. “Unless (child and women’s issues) are exposed, Japanese politics will not change.”
She said there were multiple reasons for Japan’s declining birthrate, persistent gender bias and population decline, “but in parliament, I felt apathy and ignorance in particular.”
Japan is the world’s third-largest economy, a strong democracy and a major ally of the United States, but the government has been working to make society more inclusive for children, women and minorities. There are deep concerns both inside and outside of Japan about how the country will reverse what critics say is a ingrained history of machismo that has led to low fertility rates.
The gap between men and women in Japan is one of the largest in the world. It ranks 116th in the World Economic Forum’s 2022 survey of 146 countries, which measures progress based on economic and political participation and equality in education, health and other opportunities for women.
“Japan is lagging behind because other countries are changing faster,” said Chizuko Ueno, a professor of feminist studies at the University of Tokyo, of Japan’s gender gap. “Past governments ignored the issue.”
Young Japanese are increasingly reluctant to marry and have children due to an outdated social and legal system surrounding family issues, which has led to low birth rates and a declining population, Noda said. She has served in parliament since 1993 and has expressed her ambition to become Japan’s first female prime minister.
Noda criticized a law requiring married couples to choose a surname — 90 percent of the time for women — saying it was the only legislation of its kind in the world.
“Women are undervalued in many ways in Japan,” said Noda, one of only two women among the 20 cabinet members. “I just want women to be on equal footing with men. But we’re not there yet, and further advancement of women will have to wait.”
More than 90 percent of Japan’s more powerful lower house of parliament, Noda, is made up of “people who don’t menstruate, who don’t get pregnant, and who don’t breastfeed.”
The lack of female representation is often referred to as “democracy without women”.
Noda said the quota system could help increase the number of female candidates for political office. Male lawmakers criticized her proposal, saying women should be judged by their abilities.
“It makes me think some men lack” the ability to be a candidate, she said. But in the candidate selection process, “Men can only be men, I think, for them, as long as they are men, they can be regarded as their ability.”
Noda, who graduated from Sophia University in Tokyo, worked at Tokyo’s famous Imperial Hotel before entering politics, succeeding her grandfather, a councillor in central Japan’s Gifu prefecture.
Noda gave birth to her first and only disabled child at age 50 after undergoing fertility treatment. She supports same-sex marriage and the acceptance of sexual diversity.
She has many liberal supporters, calling herself an “endangered species” in her conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan with little interruption since the end of the war.
Noda said she was often “bashed” by conservatives in the party, but also by women’s rights activists who didn’t consider her a true feminist.
In a recent article, Mainichi editorial writer Chiyako Sato said Noda might not have gotten this far without the help of powerful male lawmakers in the party.
Sato compared Noda to her ultra-conservative, hawkish female opponent, lawmaker Sanae Takaichi, saying that despite their differences in political views, the women share some similarities. “Perhaps they have no choice but to gain the support of powerful male lawmakers to advance in the LDP at a time when women are not considered full-fledged human beings.”
A big problem, Noda said, was that the Japan Self-Defense Forces struggled to get enough troops because of a dwindling young population. For police and firefighters who depend on young recruits, the reduction in numbers means nothing is getting enough attention, she said.
To address these issues, she has created a new government agency dedicated to children, due next year.
Younger male politicians have become more open to gender equality in recent years, in part a reflection of the growing number of children raised by working couples, Noda said.
But she said many male lawmakers felt reluctant to get involved in issues related to family, gender and population.
“These policies are made as if there were no women or children,” she said.
