TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese Cabinet ministers yesterday approved the scrapping of a law that stipulates women pregnant at the time of a divorce must wait 100 days before marrying again.
The law, in place for more than a century, does not apply to men and was originally intended as a way to aid the identification of the father who is financially responsible for a newborn baby.
Critics have campaigned for a withdrawal of the 1896 law – which had banned remarriage for six months until being revised in 2016 – calling it outdated and discriminatory.
The change will also remove a rule that grants parents the right to “discipline children to whatever necessary extent”.
The government will submit the revised civil code to the current parliamentary session that ends on December 10 and the change is expected to be enacted in 2024.
