TOKYO – Yoshiro Mori’s long saga seems to be coming to an end.
Japanese news agency Kyodo and others reported on Thursday – citing unidentified sources – that Mori will step down on Friday as chairman of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee.
The move follows his sexist comments about women for more than a week, and a rare and subsequent public debate in Japan about gender equality,
The decision is expected to be announced on Friday, when the executive board of the organizing committee meets. Tokyo 2020’s executive board is overwhelmingly masculine, as is day-to-day leadership.
At a Japanese Olympic Committee meeting more than a week ago, Mori, 83, basically said that women “talk too much” and are driven by a “strong sense of rivalry”. Mori, a former prime minister, gave a reluctant apology just days after his views were made public, but he refused to resign.
This is more than just another problem for the postponed Olympics, which made the risky choice of trying to open on July 23 amid a pandemic with 11,000 athletes – and then 4,400 Paralympic athletes.
More than 80% of the Japanese public in recent polls said the Olympics should be postponed or canceled.
Mori’s comments sparked outrage in many sectors and highlighted how far behind Japan is in relation to other countries in advancing women in politics or in meeting rooms. Japan ranks 121st out of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality ranking.
Although some on the street have asked him to resign – several hundred Olympic volunteers said they are retiring – most decision makers stopped before that and simply condemned his comments.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.