Japan’s ruling party invites women to meetings – but won't let them speak

LDP's attempt to demonstrate gender equality after Olympic sexism row backfires

It was a move designed to show that Japan's ruling party was committed to gender equality after the sexism row that forced one of its former prime ministers, Yoshiro Mori, to resign as head of Tokyo's Olympic organising committee.

The time had come to give female members of the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) more prominence at key meetings, the party's secretary general, Toshihiro Nikai, said this week, days after Mori had stepped down following his claim that meetings attended by talkative women" tended to drag on".