Japan: ruling party invites silent women to meetings

last Friday, February 12. The chairman of the organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics, Yoshiro Mori, tendered his resignation after international outcry over his remarks. He had said that women had difficulty speaking concisely in meetings, which he found “annoying”. The Guardian reports that to show that the ruling party in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) does not endorse this kind of talk and that it is for gender equality, its secretary general, Toshihiro Nikai, said this week that the time had come to open up key political formation meetings to women and give them more importance.

Make written observations

But it seems to be more of a facade effect. It has been proposed that groups of five women be allowed to attend the party leadership committee, which has 12 members including 10 men. However, these groups of women will not be allowed to speak, they will have to remain silent observers. A proposal immediately criticized by opposition MPs in particular. The party leader, aged 82, insisted that the observers could send their observations to the secretariat of the committee …

Having more women in party leadership is notably a demand by Tomomi Inada, Minister of Defense between 2016 and 2017, recalls the British daily. “Women represent half of Japan’s population and 40% of PLD members. If women do not have a place to discuss the policies they want to see adopted, then Japanese democracy can only be biased, ”she said. The government in place, led by Yoshihide Suga, 72, has two women out of about 20 members.


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