Casual sexism 'a familiar tactic'
By Mariko Oi, BBC News
As a Japanese woman, casual sexism is what I unfortunately got used to over the years. It may happen at business meetings, work drinks or family gatherings. At those moments, many of us just laugh, pretend we didn't hear it and move on.
That's why Mr Mori's comments didn't surprise me, and the governing party's decision to allow non-speaking women to attend their meetings is a tactic we're familiar with.
Under the previous administration of Shinzo Abe, the government set a target to increase the number of female leaders by 2020. When it didn't manage to hit the target, it quietly pushed back the deadline by a decade.
Critics have long argued that instead of trying to increase the number of women for the sake of it, what Japan needs is a fundamental change, from education to hiring practices.