Tokyo Olympics president resigns after facing backlash for saying that ‘women talk too much’

Tokyo Olympics chief is now resigning after being slammed for making sexist comments.

• Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo Olympics, is stepping down from his position after making sexists remarks about the women on the board.
• The 83-year-old director allegedly claimed that women “talk too much.”
• Mori will most likely be replaced by Saburo Kawabuchi, mayor of the Olympics village. 

Yoshiro Mori, head of the Tokyo Olympics, is signing off from his position after facing severe backlash for allegedly saying that women “talk too much.” 

As per UNILAD, Mori’s departure comes after he made sexists remarks about women in the Olympic organizing committee. He claimed that if there are more female members on the board, they would have to have time constraints, so they didn’t ramble on.

According to TIME, the 83-year-old director’s exact words were:

“‘If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their speaking time is restricted somewhat, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying.”

Although the Olympics president did not consider resignation, the backlash he faced pushed him to the wall. 

The day after making the sexist comments, the director apologized for his words, but he stated that he would not consider stepping down from his position. As per Sky News, when Mori was criticized for his remarks, he responded:

“I don’t listen to women that much lately, so I don’t know.”

Following the controversy, there was a petition launched by Kazuko Fukuda for the chief’s resignation. Though, Fukuda herself stated the chance Mori to sign off was low. She said:

“There have been a lot of these kinds of comments from politicians and people so many times before, but they never resign.”

Several women, including professor Kaori Hayashi, called out Mori for his sexist behavior. 

Kaori Hayashi, a professor of sociology and media studies at the University of Tokyo, backed up Fukuda’s petition. As The New York Times reports, she said:

“The people around Mori and he himself think that they can be like this because it’s always been like that and if the storm calms down, then they can go back to business as usual. That’s been the culture.”

Furthermore, Grace En-Yi Ting, an assistant professor in queer and feminist studies at the University of Hong Kong, added:

“If Mori had not been so highly visible representing Japan on an international stage, it’s likely that there would have been a lot more complacency regarding his remarks.”

Yoshiro Mori is expected to be replaced by Saburo Kawabuchi, former Japan Football Association president and mayor of the Olympics village.