The mayor of Yawata has become the first sitting mayor in Japan to take maternity leave, marking a milestone that has drawn international attention while sparking mixed reactions at home.
Shoko Kawata, mayor of the western Japanese city of about 69,000 people, began her maternity leave on July 20 after introducing a leave arrangement for the mayoral position, as no such protocol previously existed.
Kawata, who became Japan’s youngest female mayor in 2023 at the age of 33, said she had planned to have children when she entered office.
“I was very surprised myself to learn that I am the first mayor to take maternity leave. It made me realise that until now there simply haven’t been many young women, or women in general, who have become mayors,” she told Reuters.
Calls for broader reforms
While Yawata city employees are entitled to 16 weeks of maternity leave, Kawata said the mayor’s office had no established policy, prompting her to create one.
Before starting her leave, Kawata took part in a street procession ahead of Yawata’s Taiko festival. Instead of riding on top of the traditional mikoshi, or portable Shinto shrine, she walked behind it because of her advanced pregnancy.
Kawata said Japan still has significant room for reform in creating a society where people, including those in leadership positions, can have children without hesitation.
“People talk about gender equality and work-style reform, but we need to build a society in which people, across all professions, including among those in leadership roles, do not hesitate to have children,” she said.
She added that failing to do so would contribute to continued population decline and economic deterioration resulting from the country’s falling birth rate.
Mixed public reaction
Kawata said most local residents and her colleagues had supported her decision to take maternity leave. However, she was disappointed by criticism on social media following widespread media coverage.
“People who had never heard of me before only learned about me through reports focusing on the maternity leave. Some people criticised me online, suggesting that I wasn’t doing my job and was just there to take maternity leave. That was disappointing,” she said.
Her baby is due in September.
Most residents interviewed by Reuters backed her decision. However, some questioned whether she should continue receiving her full salary during her leave.
One resident, Chie Fujita, said she supported maternity leave as a woman’s right but disagreed with the mayor receiving her full salary while away from work.
