TOKYO: A petition and a total of 157,425 signatures seeking measures against sexist behavior were handed to the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics on Tuesday, after Yoshiro Mori, president of the committee, drew anger for his derogatory remarks about women earlier this month.

The signature campaign started on Feb. 4, the day after Mori said at a Japanese Olympic Committee gathering that meetings participated by many women tend to be prolonged. Mori has offered to step down from the post to take responsibility for the remarks.

The petition urged the committee to take measures to prevent such sexist remarks from being made again, increase the proportion of female members on its Executive Board to at least 40 percent and ensure transparency in the process to pick its new president replacing Mori and in the management of the organization.

“I think we shouldn’t move on while leaving the issue unresolved,” Momoko Nojo, one of the initiators of the campaign, told reporters after visiting the committee.

“We want a person who recognizes Mori’s remarks as problematic to be the organizing committee’s new president,” she said.

JIJI Press