Under-representation of women and girls in the world of sport

Despite the positive developments in recent decades and the fact that a formal equality does exist in most European countries, gender inequalities still persist in many aspects of the sport world, from doing sport, to coaching or administration, media representation, and at all levels – in grassroots sport as well as in elite sport. Progress remains slow and fragmented in this area.

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Normative framework of the Council of Europe and the European Union addressing gender inequalities in sport

For the Council of Europe, a gender mainstreaming approach, as well as positive measures to address the many gender gaps in the field of sport, are all necessary in order to achieve de facto equality between women and men, both in sport and through sport. In January 2015, the Committee of Ministers adopted a recommendation on gender mainstreaming in sport, which calls on member states to review their legislation in order to incorporate a gender mainstreaming strategy into public sport and physical education policies and programmes.

By adopting the gender mainstreaming approach, public authorities related to sport as well as sport governing bodies are committed to developing and implementing policies and strategies supported by concrete and positive measures at national, regional and local levels.

 Recommendation adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on gender mainstreaming in sport (CM/Rec(2015)2)

Equality between women and men is also one of the fundamental objectives of the European Union (EU). The conclusions on gender equality in sport of the Council of the EU (2014) as well as the “Gender Equality in Sport, Proposal for Strategic Actions 2014-2020” document of the European Commission are fully in line with the normative framework of the Council of Europe. The 2014-2020 Strategic Actions document is a call for renewed political attention on gender equality in sport, and encourages sport governing bodies to develop and implement national and international strategies in four priority areas:

• equal representation and gender sensitivity in decision making;
• equal representation and gender equality in coaching and teaching in sport;
• the fight against gender violence in sport and the role of sport in preventing gender violence;
• the fight against negative gender stereotypes in sport and the promotion of positive role models and the role of media in this perspective.

 European Commission, “Gender Equality in Sport, Proposal for Strategic Actions 2014-2020”

 Council of the European Union, Conclusions on gender equality in sport

Other resources and guidelines on gender equality in sport

 European Institute for Gender Equality, Gender in sport, 2017

 International Olympic Committee, IOC Gender Equality Review Project, 2018

ALL IN builds upon the main achievements and lessons learnt from the European Union and Council of Europe “Balance in sport. Tools to implement gender equality” joint project, run in 2016

Its aims are to:

• Extend and standardise the data collection based on the set of commonly agreed “basic” gender equality indicators (in the fields of leadership, coaching, participation, gender-based violence and media/communication)
  • to have a more comprehensive and conclusive mapping of persisting challenges and to monitor the progress of gender mainstreaming in sport on a regular basis
  • to continue to increase awareness on this issue
  • to allow for comparisons between countries and between sports
  • to support the development of evidence-based policies, and to better compare, co-ordinate and manage actions, policies and programmes to advance towards gender equality in sport
• Develop concrete capacity-building and awareness-raising materials and activities
  • to support public authorities and sports organisations when designing their actions to tackle gender inequalities in sport, and to adopt a gender mainstreaming strategy into their policies and programmes

The targeted outcome of the project is to lay important groundwork to improve gender equality in sport by:

• Mapping the participation of women and men in the world of sport across Europe and taking stock of the policies, measures and actions implemented by public authorities and sports organisations, by using generally agreed indicators and a uniform methodology. A database on gender equality in sport in leadership, coaching, participation, media/communication and gender-based violence will be drawn up and made available to the general public;
• Designing and promoting concrete tools to raise awareness and to develop capacities on gender equality and gender mainstreaming in sport, namely:
• a training kit on gender mainstreaming in sport
• awareness-raising materials on gender equality in leadership roles
• Regional training seminars dedicated to public authorities responsible for sport and to national Olympic committees/national sport confederations of partner countries;
• an online library containing practices and resources on gender equality in sport, along with tips and advice on how to develop policies, strategies and actions in the different fields covered by the project.
• Offering a way for sports organisations and public authorities to assess their situation on gender equality in sport in the different strategic fields of the project, and to have tips and examples of promising practices at their disposal when developing policies and actions.