Japan’s ruling party invites more women to meetings, as long as they don’t talk

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, long seen as a homogeneous redoubt of elderly men, now wants more women at its key meetings — provided they don’t do the talking.

The party, in power for most of the time since 1955, has proposed allowing five female politicians to join its board meetings as observers in a response to criticism that its board is dominated by men.

Two of the party’s 12-member board are women, while only three of its 25-member general council are women.

The proposal…