YAWATA, Japan, July 20 - The mayor of a small Japanese city became the first sitting mayor in the country to take maternity leave on Monday, a decision that has drawn some criticism at home and attracted international media attention.

Shoko Kawata, mayor of Yawata, a city of around 69,000 people in western Japan, said she had planned to have children when she became Japan's youngest female mayor in 2023 at the age of 33.

However, while 16 weeks of maternity leave are guaranteed for Yawata city employees, no such protocol existed for the mayoral position, she said, forcing her to create one.

"I was very surprised myself to learn that I am the first mayor to (take maternity leave). It made me realise that until now there simply haven't been many young women, or women in general, who have become mayors," Kawata told Reuters at Yawata City Hall on Friday.

One of her last public duties before going on maternity leave came on Friday when she took part in a street procession ahead of Yawata's Taiko festival. But rather than riding on the top of the mikoshi, or portable Shinto shrine, as tradition dictates, the heavily pregnant Kawata walked behind it.

While Sanae Takaichi became Japan’s first female prime minister last year, the country's yawning gender gap is particularly prevalent in its male-dominated politics. Japan ranked 118 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s most recent gender gap report and was 125th in the political empowerment category.

Kawata said significant room for reform remains, especially if the ageing country is to try and improve one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Japanese women are legally entitled to claim around 14 weeks of maternity leave and are typically paid about two-thirds of their wages and a birth bonus, though some government workers receive better terms.

"People talk about gender equality and work-style reform, but we need to build a society in which people, across all professions, including among those in leadership roles, do not hesitate to have children. Otherwise, I believe continual population decline resulting from falling birth rates, an...