Sanae Takaichi says household duties add three to four hours to days already defined by extreme political work. Representation changed who holds the office. It did not automatically change the assumptions built around it.

Japan’s first female prime minister says she spends three to four more hours each day than the men who held the job before her because she still has to manage household tasks alongside the demands of government. AFP-Jiji reported in The Japan Times Wednesday that Sanae Takaichi told parliament she begins her mornings by bathing, preparing breakfast, washing dishes and applying makeup before starting a schedule that already includes hours of parliamentary questioning and government work. 

Takaichi has previously said she sleeps only two to four hours a night and has at times scheduled staff meetings at 3 a.m. Her description of the job has repeatedly generated debate in a country already confronting long working hours and persistent gender inequality in both politics and domestic life. 

Her latest comments expose a problem that female representation alone cannot solve. Institutions can put women into positions designed around men’s lives without changing the expectations surrounding either the job or the home.

Japan’s prime ministers spend unusually long stretches in parliament. Takaichi told lawmakers that the schedule leaves limited uninterrupted time to think about longer-term policy. A coalition lawmaker cited data showing Japan’s prime minister attended parliamentary sessions on 72 days in 2022, compared with 50 days for Britain’s prime minister and 13 for Germany’s. 

A male political leader with a spouse handling more domestic work can operate inside that structure differently from a woman carrying more of those responsibilities herself.

Japan still has deeply unequal domestic labor patterns. Women perform substantially more unpaid household work than men, while women remain underrepresented in national politics. Only 68 women were elected to the 465-seat Lower House in Japan’s February election, according to the Japan Times report. 

Takaichi’s elevation to the country’s highest political office changed who can visibly occupy that role. It did not redistribute all of the work surrounding it.

The political institution still expects extraordinary availability. Domestic expectations still place more unpaid work on women. Public presentation creates another demand male leaders do not necessarily experience in the same way; Takaichi specifically included applying makeup in the additional preparation she described.

None of those tasks alone explains a three- or four-hour gap. Together they show how institutions can formally open access while leaving the operating model untouched.

The burden then moves onto the individual woman to prove she can withstand the structure.

Takaichi’s response has often been to work more. Her public embrace of extremely limited sleep has itself drawn criticism from people concerned that a national leader could normalize overwork in a country where excessive working hours have long been associated with serious health and social consequences. 

The contradiction is sharper because her achievement is historically significant. Japan finally has a woman serving as prime minister, yet the woman who broke that barrier is describing a workday made longer partly because domestic labor did not disappear when she entered office.

Representation can redistribute formal authority without redistributing time.

Real institutional change would require more than putting women into jobs previously held by men. Parliamentary practices, expectations of constant availability, family responsibilities and political culture would have to adjust as well. Otherwise women gain access to leadership while remaining responsible for fitting themselves into systems designed around a different division of labor.

Takaichi may eventually leave office as proof that a woman can perform one of Japan’s most demanding political jobs. The more consequential test is whether the women who follow her will still be expected to prove it by sleeping four hours a night.