TOKYO – The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics, already facing rising costs and significant public opposition to the Summer Games, faced a new outrage on Wednesday after the president of the organizing committee in Tokyo suggested that women talk too much during meetings.
The president, Yoshiro Mori, provoked a backlash on social media after news reports surfaced about his comments humiliating women during an executive meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee held online.
“On boards with a lot of women, the board meetings take so much time,” he said. Mori (83) laughed said according to a report in Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest dailies in the country. ‘Women have a strong sense of competition. If one person raises their hand, others probably think, I should say something too. That’s why everyone talks. ”
Mr. Mori, a former prime minister, responded to a question asking him to comment on the Olympic Committee’s plan to increase the number of female councilors to more than 40 percent of the total.
“You have to regulate the speaking time to a certain extent,” he said. Mori said. “Otherwise we can never finish.”
The reports come just as Olympic organizers are announcing guidelines to assure citizens and visitors that they will be able to ensure the safety of athletes and others during the rescheduled Games this summer.
On Twitter, users quickly started calling Mori to thank. Others suggested that Mori’s age and his outdated attitude were the real problem.
Mr. Mori, who was often the public face of the Tokyo Organizing Committee as he insisted that the Games continue in the midst of a global pandemic, apparently made an exception for the women who are currently members of the Tokyo Organizing Committee . . He suggested that those women be able to speak at a length that meets his standards of brevity.
These women “experienced international arenas,” he said. “Therefore, they are sophisticated, get to the point and are very useful.”
With just over five months to go before the Games begin on July 23, Tokyo remains in a state of emergency, and the vaccination of the public has yet to begin. Mori and the committee face many challenges in convincing an audience that has proven in repeated polls that it is strongly opposed to Japan hosting the Games this summer. In one poll last month, 77 percent of the country preferred to cancel or postpone the Games.
Masa Takaya, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo organizing committee, said he had no comment on Mori’s comments about women.
Amid the calls to Mr. Mori’s resignation on social media, not only did others express dismay at his comments, but that no one at the time objected to it.
“This is nothing but discrimination against women,” wrote a Twitter user. “He must resign immediately. But the problem is that no one stopped him. The biggest news is that he said this in the official venue of the JOC meeting, where reporters attended, and that no one stopped the discrimination. ”