May 12 (Japan Times) - The golf venue for the Tokyo 2020 Games has granted the first full memberships in nearly four decades to women after lifting a ban under pressure from the International Olympic Committee.
The upscale Kasumigaseki Country Club said it had upgraded three women to full membership status after agreeing last year to admit female members following criticism from the Olympics’ ruling body.
“After the change of the rules, we asked members, including men, if they want to have full membership, and three women wanted to change their status to full membership,†club general manager Hiroshi Imaizumi said.
The board of the club — where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe played with U.S. President Donald Trump in November — this week approved the requests after receiving no complaints or opposition from other members, he said.
Until last year, the private club in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, allowed females on its roster but they could not become full members and could not play on certain Sundays — restrictions that did not apply to male members.
The club has around 200 female associate members who are either relatives of full-fledged male members or “weekday members†who are barred from playing on Sundays.
After being selected as a host venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the club came under pressure to change its discriminatory practices, with IOC chief Thomas Bach threatening to hold the golf competition elsewhere if the rules were not changed.
