How a gaff is promoting gender equality at Olympic Games

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 26/03/2021

Safety has naturally become a main issue for the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games as there is not much hope that the pandemic will be gone and forgotten when the games open in late July. Diversity has also surprisingly become an issue for the organisers after a women insulting slur provided by the president of the organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, who essentially said that women talk too much. It did not take long before he had to resign, a woman was appointed his successor and the Tokyo Olympic Games were made a symbolic gesture toward gender equality.

The postponed Olympics are to open on 23 July, followed by the Paralympics on 24 August. Mori is a politician and was 2000-2001 Prime Minister of Japan. Japan is on 121st place of 153 in the World Economic Forum’s index for gender equality.

After excuses and the management change, the Tokyo Olympics also appointed 12 women to the body’s executive board, which will now have 19 women among its 45 members, or 42%, up from around 20%, so getting close to the 50/50. It has also been announced that the board will have a women as one of its vice presidents.

To increase the women representation, the total size of the board was increased from 35 to 45. The upgrading of women representation was announced after a meeting with the executive board. The action had been proposed by Seiko Hashimoto, the woman appointed as new president of the organizing committee.

SEVEN OLYMPIC GAMES

“Regarding the promotion of gender equality, we believe that it is necessary to work with a sense of speed and produce solid results in order to restore the trust in the organising committee,” Hashimoto was reported saying at the board meeting.

She herself has an Olympic bronze medal in speedskating and she also a track cyclist. She has represented her country in four winter games and three summer games.

However, the Tokyo organizing committee will be dissolved after the games so perhaps the improvement is short-lived.

“ABSOLUTELY INAPPROPRIATE”

Over the past 25 years, the IOC has played an important role in promoting women in and through sport, and it will continue to do so by setting ambitious targets. In the challenging context we live in, now more than ever, diversity is a fundamental value that we need to respect and draw strength from, the International Olympic Committee said in a statement when it distanced itself from president Mori´s “absolutely inappropriate” statement about women talking too much.

IOC said the statement was in contradiction to the IOC´s commitments and IOC’s commitments and the reforms of its Olympic Agenda 2020.

”As the leader of the Olympic Movement, we are committed to our mission to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures, as stated in the Olympic Charter.”

The IOC stressed:

1. With female athlete participation of almost 49 per cent, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be the first gender-equal Olympic Games.
2. The IOC is requesting all 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) for the first time ever to have at least one female and one male athlete in their respective Olympic teams.
3. The IOC has for the first time ever allowed and encouraged all 206 NOCs to have their flag carried by one female and one male athlete at the Opening Ceremony.
4. The Chef de Mission of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020 will be Ms Tegla Loroupe, an advocate for peace, the refugee cause, education and women’s rights. The first woman from Africa to win the New York marathon, she is also a three-time Olympian and a world record-holder for many years.
5. The IOC’s First Vice-President at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be Ms Anita DeFrantz, an African-American bronze medallist at the Olympic Games Montreal 1976, who is a trailblazer for women’s empowerment.
6. At the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the athletes will be represented by the IOC Athletes’ Commission (AC), the majority of whose members are directly elected by the athletes themselves. The IOC AC consists of 11 female and 6 male members. The Chair of the AC and member of the IOC Executive Board is Ms Kirsty Coventry, a five-time Olympian and winner of seven Olympic medals. The Vice-Chair is Ms Danka Bartekova, a three-time Olympian and bronze medallist at the Olympic Games London 2012, who has also already qualified for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
7. Based on a Memorandum of Understanding, the IOC is closely working with UN-Women on the advancement of gender equality. The IOC President has been appointed by UN-Women as a HeforShe Champion in recognition of the IOC’s contribution and commitment to gender equality.
8. Today, female IOC membership stands at 37.5 per cent, up from 21 per cent at the start of Olympic Agenda 2020.
9. Female representation on the IOC Executive Board stands at 33.3 per cent, versus 26.6 per cent pre-Olympic Agenda 2020.
10. Women account for 47.8 per cent of the members of the IOC’s commissions, compared with 20.3 per cent pre-Olympic Agenda 2020.
11. Female employees represent 53 per cent of the IOC administration.

ACCIDENTAL PROMOTION

So, one conclusion could be that Yoshiro Mori with his statement made both the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Olympic Games Organising Committee strongly promote women participation and gender equality. Question is if that really was his intention?