Shidzue Katō

Shidzue Katō
Member of the House of Councillors
for National District
In office
June 4, 1950  July 7, 1974
Member of the House of Representatives
for Tokyo 2nd District
In office
April 10, 1946  December 23, 1948
Personal details
Born
Shidzue Hirota

March 2, 1897
Tokyo, Empire of Japan
DiedDecember 22, 2001(2001-12-22) (aged 104)
Tokyo, Japan
Political partyJapan Socialist Party (1946–1951, 1955–1979)
Rightist Socialist Party (1951–1955)
Spouse(s)Keikichi Ishimoto (1914–1944)
Kanjū Katō (1944–2001)

Shidzue Katō (加藤 シヅエ, Katō Shizue; March 2, 1897 – December 22, 2001), also published as Shidzue Ishimoto, was a 20th-century Japanese feminist and one of the first women elected to the Diet of Japan, best known as a pioneer in the birth control movement. She is known in the U.S. as the "Margaret Sanger of Japan".