Mori’s sexist comments are the chance Japan needs to end rule by old men

In early February, when the head of the Tokyo Olympics Games organizing committee said that women talk too much in meetings, his comments justifiably drew the ire of the world. But the ensuing debate opened ears to suppressed voices and has presented Japan an opportunity to challenge the status quo and create change that promotes not just women’s role in society, but that of everyone who suffers under the current system of rule by old men. Sadly, a lack of interest in gender equality here means that improving overall social representation may be the only way to increase the status of women.

On February 3, in an online, extraordinary meeting that was open to the media, the Japan Olympic Committee discussed its plan to increase the number of female council members to 40%. Yoshiro Mori (83), who was then president of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, said that in his experience as a former president of the Japan Rugby Football Union, “A board meeting with plenty of women will make it drag on,” reported the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper and other major news outlets. “Somebody told me that if we increase the number of women (on the board), we’d also have to restrict their speaking time to an extent. Otherwise, they’ll never stop, which is problematic,” he continued. Some JOC Council members responded by laughing.

Public reaction was swift. An online petition that called for Mori’s resignation received close to 150,000 signatures, and the Olympic organizing committee fielded 4,550 phone calls over his comments. More than 1,000 people pulled out as volunteers for the Tokyo Games, including several runners in the torch relay.

A survey by the national broadcaster, NHK, also found that more than half of the 70 Olympic corporate partners called Mori’s remarks unacceptable, with 22 saying they had received complaints from clients, some of whom asked them to end their sponsorship. Toyota Motors, a major sponsor of the Games, took the extremely rare action for a Japanese corporation of criticizing a public figure, saying that Mori’s remarks “were deeply regrettable and differed from the values that Toyota cherishes.”

The breadth of dissent against Mori’s words seemed to mark a turning point in this deeply patriarchal society where equivalent comments by sitting politicians have typically been shrugged off with disappointment and resignation. What was probably the most fierce public backlash ever in Japan left Mori with little option other than to resign. It looks like now, such comments can hurt a career.

When leaders don’t represent what Japan really believes in

Or perhaps it depends on how you look at it. For example, if you look at it from the perspective of the members of Japan’s very old boys’ club, it’s not the comment that’s the problem, but the reaction to it. As the chairman of the Keidanren Japan Business Federation and Executive Chairman of Hitachi Ltd., Hiroaki Nakanishi (74), said, “it’s terrifying when these kinds of things get taken up on social networks and blow up.” Japan still has a long way to go in terms of gender and diversity, he told a press conference on February 8, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Clearly, some in Japan have further to go than others.

Mori’s comments, Nakanishi said, revealed what Japan really believes. Except that the rage of public opinion against the comments shows that, outside the old boys’ circle, that is not what Japan truly believes.

There is a similar opinion split on another issue Japan is currently discussing, which is viewed as a bellwether on the path toward gender equality here. That is the proposal to allow married couples to use separate family names. Currently, Japanese law requires married couples to use the same last name. According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, although men sometimes take the surname of their wives, 96% of couples use the husband’s surname.

The number of people in favor of changing the law to allow separate surnames is a whopping 70.6%, according to a survey reported by nippon.com in December.

In November, when Yoshihide Suga stood by remarks he made before becoming prime minister that supported separate surnames, many thought that that would likely push the change toward becoming a reality. However, since then, conservatives within Suga’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have ramped up their opposition to the idea. Early this year, about 50 LDP politicians signed a letter asking members to reject, in their local assemblies, a written opinion in favor of policy change.

The pro-patriarchy women’s empowerment minister

Among those who signed the letter was Japan’s new minister in charge of women’s empowerment and gender equality, Tamayo Marukawa (50). Amid the disbelief of many, she insisted that her “personal belief” on the issue would not affect her duties. Her personal experience is also not influencing it: professionally, Marukawa uses her maiden name, not that of her husband. She is reported as saying that soon after she was elected, she could not sign official documents under her maiden name, even though that is the one she used when running for office, and that that was “odd.”

Naho Ida, the head of a citizens’ group pushing for separate surnames, expressed the view of many Japanese when she told HuffPost Japan, “it is overwhelmingly disappointing that the person in the top position to lead gender equality is trying to maintain the system of patriarchal authority.”

Marukawa won her ministerial post, along with the Cabinet portfolio for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, when another female member of the LDP, Seiko Hashimoto (56), who had held both of those spots, was chosen to replace Mori.

“Wakimaeru,” where conforming disables progress

Among the comments that Mori made on February 3, the part that most angered Japanese women was this: “We have around seven women on the 35-member board of the organizing committee, but they understand their place.” In Japanese, the concept of understanding one’s place is called “wakimaeru.”

A former member of Japan’s Upper House, Yoriko Madoka explains wakimaeru as conforming to the assumed views of those around you and not asserting your own; to maintaining the rules and going along with others. The tag #wakimaenaionna (a woman who doesn’t know her place) topped Twitter the day after Mori’s comments.

Prominent Japanese sociologist and feminist Chizuko Ueno told Business Insider Japan that the reason the response among Japanese women was so strong was that it hit a nerve. “Living in a male society, before we realize it, we have internalized the habit of wakimaeru (conforming). Many of the women making their voices heard were expressing remorse for that,” she said.

Reaction spread so widely because it awakened anger among all women, who are experiencing the same thing, wherever they are, not just in the Olympic committee or the world of sports, she said. Older women, she added, regret that by not taking a stand against the patriarchal nature of society, it remains unchanged and a burden now, too, for the younger women who have come up behind them. This slap in the face from Mori meant that, for many Japanese women, the gloves are now off in their fight for respect.

Setting a precedent with a board member quota

Another gender equality issue that is being discussed here is the idea of introducing a quota system for female participation. It’s the very topic that spurred Mori’s original comments. Led by Hashimoto, the Tokyo Olympic committee has since added 12 female members to its executive board, to raise female representation to 42%, up from 20%. The new members include women from the fields of sport, business and academia.

Critics have noted that with most of the key decisions of the Olympic and Paralympic Games already decided (the opening ceremony is set for July 23), the move is just symbolic. It does set a precedent, though, and it does add that experience to the resumes of those women. That is an important point, says Ueno. “A person’s position nurtures their ability. If it is true that women don’t show leadership, that is only because they haven’t been given the opportunity to demonstrate leadership.”

She then focused on another part of the Mori faux paus. Following the wave of criticism of him, behind the scenes Mori decided to step down and tapped as his successor former Japan Football Association president Saburo Kawabuchi, aged 84. When Kawabuchi let it slip to the media that he had accepted the job, the public again voiced their anger over the lack of transparency over the appointment. Major Japanese news outlets subsequently reported that Kawabuchi had to decline the position.

Just like Mori, Kawabuchi, too, is a leader that uses his personal and financial connections to get things done, Ueno says. “Those personal and financial connections accumulate when you have a certain position, and all it is is that there were no women in those same kinds of positions.” A quota system would help women attain those qualifications.

Japan’s lack of commitment to meeting goals

Unfortunately, a quota system only works if there is a commitment to it. In Japan, there is none. In December, because it was nowhere near achieving it, the government postponed a goal to have women fulfill 30% of leadership positions by 2020. The announcement was met with the usual disappointment and resignation.

An earlier draft of the gender equality plan had called for taking necessary steps to relieve inconveniences and burdens on working women, including considering ending the same-name law, but the final plan approved by Suga’s cabinet backpedaled on those ideas. The new deadline is “as early as possible during the 2020s,” the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.

There are only two women in the 20-member cabinet. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper says that women account for fewer than 10% of lawmakers in the Lower House and that about 40% of local assemblies have no female members or only one. Japan placed 121st in the global gender equality ranking of 153 countries in the 2020 World Economic Forum report, falling from 101st when Shinzo Abe became prime minister in 2012, despite his policy to increase female participation in the workforce.

In November, the Keidanren business federation set a goal of more than 30% female company directors by 2030. The percentage of female executives among 100 leading listed companies averaged 12.9% in mid-2020, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. While Keidanren said that Japan’s existing social structure would make it challenging to achieve that goal, and the government cited the binds of traditional gender roles as hampering its goal, neither show any intention to change those factors.

If those norms aren’t changed, and they continue to be based on the standards of very old Japanese men, “it is obvious that there will be women who won’t, can’t or don’t want to enter” that world, says Ueno.

It is not only women who conform. Men have to be part of the solution too.

In the stratified society of Japan, it is not just women who conform. Wakimaeru happens here in all relationships where power is held unequally. Consequently, men do it, too, particularly at work. It doesn’t help your career if your offering of a different idea is seen as challenging the wisdom and decision-making of your boss.

This is why other members of the Olympic committee laughed at Mori’s comments rather than challenging them. Of course, this custom stifles new ideas, innovation and diversity. It also stifles men’s – and women’s – wellbeing and creates a lack of freedom in Japan that its people often lament. Consequently, Mori’s backdoor attempt to hand power over to another old boy angered men here, too.

Ueno suspects that Japanese companies have started using the term “diversity” as a way to avoid saying “gender equality.” From talking to companies, she has gained the impression that for them, gender equality is a low priority among the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, she told Business Insider. Other evidence also suggests that it is a low priority for the larger society, too. A survey released by Linked In Japan in March, found that while about 70% of people in the Asia-Pacific region agree with the statement that gender equality is important to creating a fair society, fewer than half of Japanese respondents agreed, and only 36% of Japanese men believed that to be true. Consequently, to get men involved in creating gender equality, the best way is likely a push for greater equality in general, with a joint attack against the very old boys’ club to create a society that can change.

Global companies likely to lead moves toward gender equality

Kathy Matsui, a former chief strategist and vice-chair at Goldman Sachs Japan, told the Business Insider that despite occasional past gaffes by politicians, Mori’s comments were the first in her more than 30 years of living in Japan that produced such a large movement. It has changed the landscape for public opinion in Japan. Although politicians know that that doesn’t usually translate into trouble at election time (voter turnout in the 2019 Upper House election was 48.8% — the second-lowest postwar total), some companies are paying attention.

Global corporations, like Toyota, are feeling greater pressure to maintain global standards in their dealings worldwide. As Japan’s population continues to shrink, Japanese companies know that their viability depends on their overseas markets, which will require them to conform to higher standards. This makes them the most likely place from which a push toward diversity, or equality, will come.

Matsui sees value in setting numerical goals, such as quotas. “I think that it is important to enable the visualization of figures by setting objectives and goals. Since companies face accountability, by making it able to be seen, it creates an opportunity for shareholders and the media to ask, ‘what is stopping you (from achieving it)?'”

That is a discussion that Japan needs to broaden the debate beyond the boundaries currently defined by very old men who have no motivation to change the status quo. All of Japan needs to talk about how they want this country to be – to create that discussion on all digital and physical platforms – to sketch a bright, bold and inclusive vision for the future of Japan, not the sepia image that the old boys are clinging to. Despite his many failings, Mori has kickstarted that discussion.