Mori, the 83-year-old former Japanese Prime Minister, has faced calls to resign as Tokyo 2020 President following comments he made during a Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) meeting.

"On boards with a lot of women, the meetings take so much time," Mori said, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

"When you increase the number of female executive members, if their speaking time isn't restricted to a certain extent, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying."

Mori, who is known for a string of public gaffes, apologised at a press conference earlier this week.

His comments have attracted international headlines, with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike describing the comments as a "major issue" for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A petition has been directed to the Japanese Government including Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto, as well as Koike, the Japanese Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020.

The petition says that while Mori has apologised for his comments, "he does not seem to understand or try to understand the cause that is pointed out to be truly "discrimination" and he has such a prejudice".

Activists have questioned whether it is appropriate Mori remains in his position, but have stopped short of calling for his removal.

The petition calls for the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Japanese and Tokyo Metropolitan Governments to consider whether action should be taken against Mori.

A request has also been made for the implementation of "prevention measure" and guidelines to be introduced.

The JOC aims to increase the percentage of female executives to 40 per cent or more.

The JOC only has five women on its 24-member Executive Board and there are seven females on the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board, according to Mori.

The petition calls for Tokyo 2020 to ensure at least 40 per cent of positions in the Organising Committee are held by women, as well as promoting diversity among managers in the organisation.

Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka added her criticism of Mori’s comments, with the three-time Grand Slam champion describing his statement as "ignorant".

"I feel like that was a really ignorant statement to make," Osaka said, according to Agence France-Presse.

"I think that someone that makes comments like that, they need to have more knowledge on the thing that they're talking about.

"I also want to hear the reasoning behind those comments.

"I also want to hear the perspective of everyone else that surrounds him."

Japan has faced criticism for its gender equality efforts as it ranks 121 out of 153 nations surveyed in the 2020 global gender gap report of the World Economic Forum.

The Kasumigaseki Country Club, which will be used as the golf venue for the Games, previously received criticism over its refusal to admit female members.

The club, founded in 1929 and considered the birthplace of Japanese golf, granted women full membership for the first time in May 2018 after changing its discriminatory gender policy.

Tokyo 2020 officials had threatened to move to a different venue unless the rules were changed and the club ultimately bowed to pressure and now allows women to be full members.

The controversy caused by Mori’s comments comes at a time when the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo are unpopular among the Japanese public.

A Kyodo News survey last month found 80 per cent of Japanese people want the Games to be cancelled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 35 per cent of those surveyed called for the cancellation of the Games and 44.8 per cent said there should be another postponement.