The contraceptive pill gets legalised in Japan
Witness History

The contraceptive pill gets legalised in Japan

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 30, 202610 min

After decades of campaigning in Japan, the pill was finally legalised in 1999. In contrast, the male impotency drug Viagra was approved for use in just six months, and legalised before the contraceptive pill for women. Politician Yoriko Madoka pushed hard for the right to take the pill and told Rebecca Kesby that sexism and male dominance in parliament is why it took so long. This programme was first broadcast in 2020. Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 6 of 12 · 2:00

In 2020, Rebecca Kespi spoke to one woman who made it her life's work to fight for the right to take the pill.

, .

Yuriko Madoka is a politician who served in the upper house of the Japanese parliament

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B22:00

    Tap for the meaning

  • B23:06

    Tap for the meaning

  • C14:19

    Tap for the meaning

  • B24:35

    Tap for the meaning

  • B26:26

    Tap for the meaning

  • C18:49

    Tap for the meaning

  • B29:56

    Tap for the meaning

  • C110:56

    Tap for the meaning

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 27%A2 32%B1 22%B2 19%C1 0%
  • 81% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 130 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 42 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. and tell me what you think. The contraceptive pill for women was developed in 1960 and over the next decade or so was approved for use in many countries all over the world, but not in Japan. There, women would have to wait until 1999 to be allowed to take oral contraceptives.

1:47

In 2020, Rebecca Kespi spoke to one woman who made it her life's work to fight for the right to take the pill. I am the sort of person that the more resistance I face, the more motivated I am. Yuriko Madoka is a politician who served in the upper house of the Japanese parliament between 1993 and 2010 as one of the few women in politics at the time she made a point of

2:20

speaking up for women's rights, including the right to take the contraceptive pill. The reason I started pushing for the legalization of the pill was because before I became an MP, I used to give a class for women called the smiley divorce class. I wasn't a professional counselor or anything, I was just a journalist.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (8 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy