A week after his sexist comments about women, Yoshiro Mori is reportedly stepping down as president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee on Friday.
When answering a question on the Olympic Committee’s goal of increasing female membership to 40%, Mori said, “You have to regulate speaking time to some extent, or else we’ll never be able to finish.”
“Women have a strong sense of competition,” he went on. “If one person raises their hand, others probably think, ‘I need to say something too.’ That’s why everyone speaks.”
- Mori apologized after swift backlash, and the Tokyo Olympic Committee issued a statement on its support for diversity.
- The former prime minister initially said he would not resign.
It’s still unclear if the Tokyo Olympics, now scheduled for July, will happen at all. Officials have insisted the event will go on regardless of the pandemic.
A recent poll found that 61% of people in Japan want the games to be postponed or canceled, and only 8% believe that they should happen in front of a live audience.
