TOKYO (JAPAN) – Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori on Thursday expressed apology for making sexist remarks about women. He said that he was taking back his comments, but would not resign, in spite of calls on social media, demanding him to step down.
The hashtag “Mori, please resign” was trending on Twitter in Japan on Thursday morning and some users on the platform were calling on sponsors to impose pressure on the Tokyo organising committee to drop Mori from the top post.
The 83-year-old Mori, a former Japanese prime minister and head of the Tokyo organising committee, admitted that his comments about women board members talking too much were “inappropriate” and against the Olympic spirit.
According to a report in the Asahi newspaper, Mori made the sexist comments at a Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) board of trustees meeting this week.
“If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying,” said Mori, according to the Asahi report.
“We have about seven women at the organising committee but everyone understands their place.”
Japan persistently falls behind, when compared to its peers on promoting gender equality, ranking 121 out of 153 nations surveyed in the 2020 global gender gap report of the World Economic Forum.
In a hastily-called press briefing, Mori tried to explain himself, at first apologising. He said later that he did not necessarily think that worrying over the number of women in high-ranking position was what was important.
When asked by a reporter if he had any basis for saying that women board members talked too much during meetings, “I don’t talk to women that much lately so I don’t know,” Mori said.
Mori’s defiant response is not likely to bring down public criticism and anger over his comments, and it would further alienate a Japanese public that has already been frustrated with Tokyo’s attempts to hold the Games during a pandemic.
