In Japan, Voters Are Wary of Mothers in Public Office

TOKYO — Takako Suzuki is the youngest of the 707 lawmakers in Japan’s Parliament and the latest of a handful of members to give birth while in office.

When Suzuki, a 32-year-old member of the House of Representatives from the governing Liberal Democratic Party, announced last summer that she and her husband were expecting their first child, not everyone was supportive.

Critical comments were posted on various online platforms. “Are you abandoning your job?” or “You lack awareness as a person holding a public office,” some of them said, according to Suzuki.

Her father, Muneo Suzuki, a former longtime member of Parliament, rushed to her defense: “I understand that people have different ways of understanding things. But I cannot agree with the view that [she is] abandoning her duties,” he wrote on his blog.

Takako Suzuki said that she had never taken a day off while Parliament was in session and that she had never skipped any public duties.

In September, Suzuki gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Family members take turns looking after the child while Suzuki juggles frequent business trips between Tokyo and Hokkaido, the electoral district she represents.

These days, Suzuki is focused on policy measures such as allowing elected officials to take time off when they are injured or sick. She’s also pushing to allow proxy voting for such lawmakers.

Suzuki said she was confronted almost daily with questions about her daughter. “Why was she working when she had a baby to take care of,” she recalled being asked. “I get a lot of ‘I feel sorry for your baby.’ Or, ‘Don’t you need to be at home with your baby?’ Or, ‘A mother not being with their child at this stage could negatively affect how the child grows up.’ It’s discouraging.”

Suzuki has chosen not to breast-feed and that, too, has drawn criticism. “It’s easiest to not say anything when I get these types of comments, and many people don’t realize these are just their own beliefs,” she said. “I try very hard to let them know my child is fine and we’re doing very well.

“Unless I reassure them, new mothers following my footsteps will also have to endure this criticism.”

Despite its status as the world’s third-largest economy, Japan lags far behind other countries when it comes to the participation of women in politics. According to data from the nonprofit Inter-Parliamentary Union, China, the United States and South Korea are all ahead of Japan. It ranks 158 out of 193 countries, with women representing just 10.1 percent of its lower house, the House of Representatives. (In the upper house, the House of Councillors, women make up 20 percent.)

It’s no surprise, then, that the number of women who have become mothers while holding political office is minuscule.

“They are a novelty in Japan,” said Hiroko Nagano, the founder of a Facebook group called Network for Politicians Giving Birth (While in Office). Nagano is an assemblywoman from Tokyo’s City of Toshima district.

A survey conducted by Nagano and her team found that out of 874 city councils and other municipal-level assemblies in Japan, just 140 female politicians have given birth while in office in the last 72 years. In 90 percent of these city councils and assemblies, no woman has ever given birth while in office.

Nagano formed her social media group in December, and she started a hotline in February to help widen her network’s reach.

The aim of the Facebook group, which has 52 members so far, has been to make women who become pregnant while holding jobs more of the norm in Japan. The network, composed of mostly municipal-level politicians, aims to share experiences, identify policy initiatives and advocate to carry out the policies in their communities.

“Although we are community leaders, we are always needing to apologize for our own actions as a result of being pregnant, delivering a baby or being a working mother,” Nagano said. “We felt it made sense to advocate for all the other mothers in the communities we serve so there is no apology needed.”

Hiromi Suzuki, 34, an assemblywoman from Tokyo’s City of Shinjuku district, is part of this Facebook group. Suzuki, who is not related to Takako Suzuki, has been advocating for maternity leave for all municipal-level governments.

While many voters in Suzuki’s community were supportive of her pregnancy, others expressed their disapproval.

After Hiromi Suzuki had her first baby four years ago, some of her campaign posters were defaced with vulgar and sexist remarks.

Councilwoman Yuuka Ogata, of Kumamoto City, has also been part of the Facebook network. Ogata, 42, made headlines in November when she arrived at a council meeting with her 7-month-old son, whom she was breast-feeding.

Ogata said she received 1,000 emails, letters, phone calls and social media posts after the November incident, about half of which were supportive.

Ogata said she felt most affected by negative feedback from other women, particularly the older generation of working mothers. One called Ogata “arrogant” and said that women needed to earn respect from men by “working harder than men” and not asking for more. Motherhood has been blamed for some harsh consequences for female politicians.

During parliamentary elections last October, Megumi Kaneko, 40, a two-term Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker from Niigata, lost her seat in the lower house.

Kaneko had been criticized for using government vehicles occasionally to transport her toddler to and from the day care facility inside the government building where she worked.

Many Japanese voters said online that her actions were “not a problem” and having her child ride with her “made sense.” However, many of Kaneko’s voters in Niigata frowned on her use of government vehicles, calling her “privileged.” Kaneko ultimately apologized.

Controversy caused by her husband, Kensuke Miyazaki, may have also tainted her image. In 2016, Miyazaki, then a lower house Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, was praised for being the first lawmaker to ever take paternity leave. But he quickly lost support when news broke that he was having an extramarital affair while his wife was pregnant. Miyazaki resigned from his seat. Kaneko, in turn, was also criticized when it became clear she had decided not to divorce him.

Hiroko Miyashita, president of Yokohama-based Maternity Harassment Prevention Network, said: “If a woman in Japan becomes pregnant, they are almost seen as damaged goods in their workplaces. They are seen to no longer be as productive as those without children.”