was a 20th Century Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese feminist and one of the first women elected to the Diet of Japan

Diet of Japan

The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...

. Katō was best known as a pioneer in the birth control

Birth control

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

 movement and a strong supporter of labour reform.

Bio

Katō Shidzue was born on March 2, 1897 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 to an elite family and was married to the progressive Baron Ishimoto Keikichi at age 17. Shortly after their marriage, Shidzue and her husband moved to the Miike coalfield

Miike coal mine

, also known as the , was a coal mine located in the area of Ōmuta, Fukuoka and Arao, Kumamoto, Japan. Mining began in the Edo Period and the mine was nationalised in 1872. The Mitsui zaibatsu took control in 1899....

 in Kyūshū

Kyushu

is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....

. For three years, they witnessed the horrendous conditions under which the men and women there worked. In 1919, the couple moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where Shidzue studied in a secretarial program in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Afterwards the couple returned to Japan, the Baron began working for the expanding Japanese empire, and the couple grew apart. She became involved with labor organizer Katō Kanju (who was also married). Only after many years was she given permission by the Imperial Household Agency to end her marriage to the Baron and to marry Katō Kanju. In 1946 Katō Shidzue joined the Japan Socialist Party, and was elected to the Diet of Japan. She continued her involvement in Japanese politics even after leaving the Diet, until her death at age 104 on December 22, 2001.

Political notes

• 1922 - Acted as a guide to American feminist Margaret Sanger
  Margaret Sanger
  Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
  
  , whom she had met while in New York
  New York
  New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
  
   in 1920. Shidzue provided important support, first helping her gain permission to land in Japan, and then to speak in public on birth control. In the following years, Shidzue brought Sanger to Japan six more times.
• 1937 - Arrested because of her opposition to the militarist government's policy of producing as many children as possible.
• 1946 - 1974 - Served in the Diet of Japan.
• 1948 - Co-founded the Family Planning Federation of Japan, the Japanese affiliated of the International Planned Parenthood Federation
  International Planned Parenthood Federation
  The International Planned Parenthood Federation is a global non-governmental organization with the broad aims of promoting sexual and reproductive health, and advocating the right of individuals to make their own choices in family planning. It was first formed in 1952 in Bombay, India, and now...
  
  
• 1988 - Received the United Nations
  United Nations
  The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
  
   Population Award.
• During the Cold War, surprised many by endorsing the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty
  Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan
  The was signed between the United States and Japan in Washington, D.C. on January 19, 1960. It strengthened Japan's ties to the West during the Cold War era...
  
  .
• 1996 - The Kato Shizue Award is established by Dr. Attiya Inayatullah
  Attiya Inayatullah
  Dr. Attiya Inayatullah holds a Ph.D. in Demographics and has had a lifelong association with the Family Planning Association of Pakistan. She has an international standing in the field of population planning, and has remained a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO, as well as a leading member of...
  
   to commemorate her work. The Kato Shizue Award "targets women's groups, women's organizations and/or individual women who are active in the movement toward improvement of sexual and reproductive health/rights of women as well as empowerment of women (i.e., social, economic, political and legal empowerment) in developing countries and/or in Japan."

Praise

• "Together Mme. Kato and Margaret Sanger changed the world. Every woman, in not only Japan and America, but also in the entire world owes them a debt of thanks." - Alexander Sanger, president of the Margaret Sanger
  Margaret Sanger
  Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
  
  Center for International and Planned Parenthood
• In 1997, Japanese television devoted a 50-minute documentary to Katō Shidzue on the occasion of her 100th birthday.

Also known as...

• Ishimoto Shizue (during her marriage to Ishimoto Keikichi)
• Shidzue Kato
• Shizue Kato