The Japan Business Federation said Monday it has appointed Tomoko Namba, founder and chairwoman of online service provider DeNA Co., as the first female vice chair in its 75-year history.

Namba, 58, will formally assume the post after the country's largest business body, also known as Keidanren, formally approves the appointment at an annual general meeting in June.

The structure of Keidanren, which currently has 18 vice chairs, reflects Japan's male-dominated business circle that is lagging behind other countries in promoting gender equality.

Namba founded DeNA in 1999 after earning a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University and became the first female owner in 2015 of a Japanese professional baseball team, the Yokohama DeNA Baystars.

Japan's overwhelming male dominance came under renewed scrutiny recently after Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, sparked an international uproar over sexist remarks and was forced to resign as the head of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics' organizing committee.

==Kyodo

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