MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee on Tuesday nominated 12 women as candidates for its executive board in a bid to ensure equal gender representation in the wake of sexist remarks about women by former chief Yoshiro Mori, the Kyodo news agency reported, citing sources close to the matter.
The nominations came as Seiko Hashimoto, the new committee head, set the target of increasing the number of female executives from the current 20 percent to 40 percent. The decision was made in light of a public backlash triggered by Mori's reluctance to appoint more women to the board. The former head claimed that meetings would take too long in that case.
According to the news agency, the candidates include the 2000 Sydney Olympic marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi, two-time Paralympic alpine skiing champion Kuniko Obinata, Naoko Saiki, the former senior official at the foreign ministry and a current executive board member at the Japan Rugby Football Union, as well as board members of the Japanese Olympic Committee and university professors.
Their appointments are expected to be confirmed during the organizing committee's advisory meeting on Wednesday, the news agency added.
Mori, the 83-year-old former prime minister, kicked up controversy last month over his claims that women "talk too much" at the board meetings of sporting events. Amid the public outcry, the official offered condolences over his remarks and stepped down from the post.
The committee has since agreed to increase the maximum number of board members from 35 to 45. Of the 34 current executive board members, seven are women. The reported addition of the 12 new members will increase female representation on the board to 19 out of 45.
