2020 Tokyo Olympics' Chief Says "Women Talk Too Much During Meetings"
Yoshiro Mori has issued a formal apology.
The president of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, made a sexist comment earlier this week, which was leaked to local Japanese media outlets. According to CNN, Mori has issued an official apology.
“I recognize my comment yesterday was an inappropriate expression and went against the spirit of the Olympics and Paralympics. I profoundly regret it,” he said. “I’d like to withdraw my comment and apologize to the people whom I made to feel unpleasant.”
For those who haven’t caught up with the news, on February 3, an Olympics board of trustees event was held with reporters present. When Mori was asked whether the committee planned on “increasing the number of women on its board of directors from 20 percent to 40 percent,” he was merely focused on the fact that meetings would take longer due to the presence of women.
“Women are competitive – if one member raises their hand to speak, others might think they need to talk too,” the Japanese press reported. “If you want to increase female membership, you would be in trouble unless you put time limits in place,” he added.
The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Report indicates that Japan’s gender gap is “by far the largest among all advanced economies,” causing constant gender discrimination in the workplace. Women in Japan only account for “5.3 percent of board members on listed companies and only 10 percent of parliamentarians.”
