Ejercicio Grupo A - 1 · Inglés PAU Canarias Junio (Humanidades) 2021

GRUPO A

Tokyo Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori resigns after sexist remarks

After a wave of criticism, Mori, 83, apologised and retracted his remarks saying they were inappropriate and

against the Olympic spirit. “If we increase the number of female board members, we have to make sure their

speaking time is restricted; they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying. We have about seven women

at the organizing committee, but everyone understands their place,” he said. Mori added that he felt his

5 comments were misinterpreted by the media and that he was not prejudiced against women.

Mori’s resignation came as pressure grew on him over the past week. Major sponsors came forward to

criticize his comments, including Toyota, one of the biggest Olympic backers. Toyota’s president Akio

Toyoda said the company was disappointed.

The controversy has also put the spotlight on the sexism and gender inequality that still survives among

10 Japan’s conservative, male-dominated elites. The issue has dominated parliamentary sessions for days with

the opposition urging the country’s government to take action against Mori, a former prime minister

himself. A group of female opposition congresswomen wore white, in homage to the women’s suffrage

movement. And they also exhibited roses on their lapels, in protest of Mori’s remarks.

Japan is behind other developed nations in promoting gender equality. It stands 121st out of 153 countries

15 in the World Economic Forum’s 2020 gender gap index, which highlights gender-based differences around

the world. Japan’s gender gap is by far the largest among all advanced economies and has widened over the

past year, the index said, with only 15 percent of senior and leadership positions held by women.

Although the younger generation is more socially progressive and more sensitive to gender equality issues,

social practices are slower to change and Japan is behind — especially in the absence of female

20 representation in positions of leadership, said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Tokyo’s Sophia

University. “This is precisely why Mori’s comments were so strongly rejected by the public,” he added.

“The Japanese are often afraid to take positions on issues that are seen as political, but the negative reaction

was practically unanimous on this one,” Nakano said.

But while Mori’s comments and resignation are one more crisis that the Tokyo Games organizers have to

25 tackle, it will likely get lost in comparison with the pandemic. That will be what people will remember these

games for.

Fragment adapted from NBC.News, February 2021

1. Say whether the following sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text. COPY the evidence from the text. No marks will be given without the evidence. (1.5 points)

a)

Yoshiro Mori left his post on the Olympic Committee immediately after he was criticised for being prejudiced against women.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

The Japanese are reluctant to express their political views.

TRUE

FALSE

c)

Yoshiro Mori’s remarks are the only disaster of the Tokyo Olympic Games

TRUE

FALSE