Japan's 1st Sitting Mayor on Maternity Leave Makes "Time100 Next" List

New York, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)--U.S. magazine Time has selected Shoko Kawata, the 36-year-old mayor of the city of Yawata, Kyoto Prefecture, who is believed to be the first sitting female local government chief in Japan to take maternity leave, for its "Time100 Next 2026" list of rising global leaders.

Regarding Kawata's decision to take maternity leave, the magazine said in an article on Wednesday, "With no precedent to follow, she created one."

In 2023, Kawata became the youngest female city mayor ever in Japan at the age of 33. This year, she took maternity leave from July and gave birth to her first child in September.

Time praised Kawata for "demonstrating how Japan can become more livable for families" through "her personal choices and her policy priorities," citing her policies including lowering school lunch costs and expanding postpartum care services.

However, the magazine added that Kawata's decision propoked a backlash as elected mayors in Japan "fall outside" the country's labor protections including maternity leave. This illuminated "the pressures working women in Japan continue to face," it said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]