Tokyo Games Committee Adds 12 More Women To Board
The organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games has added 12 more women to its board, pushing the ratio of female members to over 40 percent.
The committee's board on Tuesday put forward the plan to increase its female members, and it was approved at a meeting of the committee's council on Wednesday.
The move is part of efforts to promote gender equality and comes after the resignation of former committee president Mori Yoshiro who was accused of making remarks demeaning to women.
The board now has 45 members, of which 19 are women. The ratio of female members has risen to about 42 percent.
The new members were chosen from various fields to reflect diverse opinions.
They include Takahashi Naoko, the marathon gold medalist at the Sydney games, and Obinata Kuniko, a two-time gold medalist in Paralympic Alpen skiing who heads the Paralympians Association of Japan.
The others are a Japan Rugby Football Union executive, a Japanese Olympic Committee executive, the head of a Tokyo para-sports association, four professors, an entrepreneur helping female workers, the head of a group of the Ainu ethnic minority, and a lawyer.
After the council meeting, organizing committee president Hashimoto Seiko said that what needs to be done is of paramount importance. She said the committee will deliver plans to be recommended by the experts.