When the mayor of a small town in western Japan announced she was taking maternity leave, she expected some raised eyebrows.
But the reaction was far stronger – and more divided – than Shoko Kawata had ever anticipated.
The 35-year-old has been plunged into a national debate about whether elected officials should take time off for childbirth, in a country that’s struggling to lift birth rates.
“I was so surprised because the reaction was so big,” Kawata tells.
Sitting on a blocky, cushioned armchair, she’s flanked by two older men – her deputies – in a fifth-floor meeting room at City Hall in Yawata, a town south of Kyoto known for its shrines and cherry trees.
As there is currently no legal framework for local elected officials to take time off when they have babies, Kawata won’t be taking maternity leave officially. Instead, she is assigning the man on her left, Shigeto Nose, to temporarily carry out her role.
