Congratulations to Seiko Hashimoto, Japan’s former Olympics minister, who has taken the helm of the troubled Tokyo Games, after her predecessor quit amid an uproar over his sexist remarks.
I and many other women around the world applaud the choice of the seven-time Olympian as another major step forward to break the ultimate glass ceiling in Japan, where gender inequality remains a deep-rooted structural problem.
While the Tokyo 2020 president is mostly a figurehead, the appointment of a woman signals that the men’s club of Olympic decision-makers in Tokyo has learned from the backlash over the resignation of Yoshiro Mori for making “inappropriate comments” about women.
Mr Mori, a former prime minister, was quoted as complaining during a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee that board meetings with many female directors “take so much time”.
Because of women’s…
