Japanese golf club ‘baffled’ over sexism row
KASUMIGASEKI Country Club in Saitama, north of Tokyo, postponed a decision to review its membership policy following a board meeting on Tuesday after the club came under fire from Tokyo’s female governor Yuriko Koike.
The governor said she felt “uncomfortable that women cannot become full members in the 21st century”, while the International Olympic Committee also raised concerns about the rule.
Tokyo organisers have also filed a written request to the golf club to change the rule, a Tokyo 2020 official said yesterday.
A meeting to discuss requests to drop its ban on full female members ended with no firm decision, according to public broadcasters NHK.
“It’s extremely annoying the situation has evolved into what it is so quickly,” board chairman Kiichi Kimura told local media. “There was no decision, and we will discuss it further.
“We are baffled – that’s our situation right now,” he said. “We agreed [to host the Olympic golf competitions] at their request, but we never made a bid [to host it].”
The row comes after ca lls to move the 2020 Oly mpic tournament from t he private club because of t he rule, which a l lows women to play f rom Monday to Saturday but bars t hem f rom becoming f u l l members a nd from play ing on Sundays.
Yukihiko Nunomura, Tokyo 2020’s chief operating officer, who was briefed about the meeting, later told reporters he expects that the club “will move towards operating with gender equality in mind”, according to the Tokyo 2020 official.
Plans for the Tokyo Games have been marred by problems, most notably huge cost overruns, which have triggered sharp public exchanges between organisers and Koike’s office.