(Photo here.)

Patriarchy survives threat in Japan....

Tokyo, Sept. 6 (AP): Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth to the royal family's first male heir in four decades on Wednesday, easing a succession crisis and quelling a fractious political debate over whether to allow women on the throne.

Kiko, 39, underwent a Caesarean section at a Tokyo hospital, bearing a boy who is third in line to the throne after Crown Prince Naruhito and Kiko's husband, Prince Akishino, 40. The baby's name was to be announced next Tuesday.

The arrival of a new Prince _ Emperor Akihito's first grandson _ defused a succession crunch in the coming generation of the royal family, which traces its roots back some 1,500 years.

[snip]

The closely watched birth was also likely to put the brakes on a divisive debate over whether to change Japan's 1947 imperial law to allow women to inherit the throne. Under that law, only men in an all-male line to the emperor can assume the crown.

While eight women have ruled as emperor over the centuries, the last taking the throne in 1763, they served mostly as placeholders until a suitable male could be found, and none passed the crown to her offspring. [emphasis mine]

For some time now, doesn't it feel like one step forward and two steps back for progressives and feminists?

I was watching this story, hoping for the birth of a baby girl, thinking it could propel Japan's patriarchal, regressive society forward.

But no luck.

I know Japan is far from alone in the world community when it comes to sexism. The US has yet to elect a woman president. The very idea! That in this day and age, one has to possess a penis and balls to be fit for leadership.

Arghhhhhhh!

Complete story here.