Until just a few days ago, a divorced woman in Japan had to wait at least six months before being allowed to remarry, while men did not have to wait a single day.

Key points: Supreme Court decided the code was unconstitutional

Supreme Court decided the code was unconstitutional Prompted Japanese Diet to pass amendment to the law

Prompted Japanese Diet to pass amendment to the law But if a women is pregnant, she must wait 100 days

But if a women is pregnant, she must wait 100 days Original husband considered a baby's father if birth is up to 300 days after divorce

But those laws have changed after an amendment passed in the Japanese upper house.

One woman from the Okayama prefecture was not happy with the Civil Code's remarriage ban, and she successfully challenged it in the Supreme Court last year.

The Supreme Court decided the code was unconstitutional, which prompted the Japanese Diet to pass an amendment last week.

The amendment ruled that normally women would no longer have to wait a single day to get remarried.

But MPs decided to keep the law that said if the woman was pregnant, she would still have to wait 100 days before remarrying.

The law was first introduced in the 1890s, when there were concerns over how to identify a father if a divorced woman happened to be pregnant.

Japan's civil code was discussed when the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women met earlier in the year in Geneva.

Mikiko Otani, a human rights lawyer, attended that meeting. She said while she welcomed this latest amendment, divorced women continued to face discrimination in Japan.

"[The] Civil Court of Japan and the family law does not explicitly say that marriage properties shall be divided between husband and wife 50–50," she said.

Ms Otani also said more legal protections were needed to ensure newly divorced women were not left in financial stress.