Japan’s minister for gender equality and children's issues called the country’s record low births and plunging population a national crisis and blamed “indifference and ignorance” in the male-dominated Japanese parliament for the neglect.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Seiko Noda couched the steadily dwindling number of children born in Japan as an existential threat, saying the nation won’t have enough troops, police or firefighters in coming decades if it continues. The number of newborns last year was a record low 810,000, down from 2.7 million just after the end of the Second World War, she said.

“People say that children are a national treasure. ... They say that women are important for gender equality. But they are just talking,” Noda, 61, said in a Cabinet office in downtown Tokyo’s government complex. “The politics of Japan will not move unless [the problems of children and women] are made visible.”

She said there are a variety of reasons for the low birthrate, persistent gender bias and population decline in Japan, "but being in the parliament, I especially feel that there is indifference and ignorance.”

Japan is the world’s third biggest economy, a powerful democracy and a major US ally, but the government has struggled to make society more inclusive for children, women and minorities. There are deep concerns, both within Japan and abroad, about how Japan will reverse what critics call a deep-seated history of male chauvinism that has contributed to the low birthrate.

The gap between men and women in Japan is one of the world’s worst. It ranked 116th in a 146-nation survey by the World Economic Forum for 2022, which measured progress toward equality based on economic and political participation, as well as education, health and other opportunities for women.

“Japan has fallen behind because other countries have been changing faster," said Chizuko Ueno, a University of Tokyo professor of feminist studies, referring to Japan's gender gap. "Past governments have neglected the problem.”

Because of outdated social and legal systems surrounding family issues, younger generations are increasingly reluctant to get married and have children, contributing to the low birthrate and shrinking population, said Noda. She has served in parliament since 1993 and expressed her ambition to be Japan’s first female prime minister.

Noda criticised a law requiring married couples to choose one family name – 90 percent of the time it is the women who change their surnames – saying it's the only such legislation in the world.

“In Japan, women are underestimated in many ways,” said Noda, who is one of only two women in the 20-member Cabinet. “I just want women to be on equal footing with men. But we are not there yet, and the further advancement of women still has to wait.” (AP)