Anita White Foundation (AWF)
Launched in 2011 and based at the University of Chichester, the AWF is a central point of reference for scholars and activists involved with women and sport. It offers research opportunities for sports scholars as well as a development fund for future women leaders from countries that face particular challenges. Details:
http://lei.sr?a=S1Y0m Email:
jordan.matthews@
chi.ac.uk
The attendees at the AWF's Women's Sport Leadership Academy 2014
What we need is a comprehensive approach where you try and permeate all the different aspects of sport in order to try to move towards equality
that the increase in the overall percentage of women on NGB boards, from 23 per cent to 27 per cent, is not significant enough to “create balance or to have a genuine and sustainable impact”. The report also reveals that the overall average hides the fact that 49 per cent of NGBs fail Sport England’s minimum target of having 25 per cent of board members female. Worryingly, three NGBs – British Cycling, Wheelchair Rugby and British Wrestling – have no female board members. Ruth Holdaway, CEO of WSFF, states that while Sport England’s target to have 25 per cent female representation on each board by 2017 is a step in the right direction, at least 30 per cent female representation is needed in order to lead a genuine, sustained change. “Reaching a
30 per cent diversity threshold by 2017 is entirely possible,” Holdaway says. “There is a wide and varied pool of
talented women open to and actively seeking leadership roles in sport. It simply requires committed leadership which places a priority on achieving gender diversity at all levels of the organisation.” For Anita White, targets are good as
long as they are met – which often is not the case. She would introduce measures to make sure recommended targets aren’t just that – recommendations and not action. “There have been targets for ages
for British NGBs in terms of gender representation – but the targets have consistently not been met,” she says. “The thing is, if you are trying to bring about social change, you need to have incentives
and you also need sanctions as a balance. "The funding of NGBs is now linked to participation, but I’d like to see funding agencies building in the gender factor too. I believe funding of NGBs should be tied to gender targets both in management and in participation.”
CULTURAL CHANGE For White, there isn’t one easy way to empower women in sport, it's a very complex situation – a view mirrored by many. For the gap to be narrowed between women's and men’s sport at all levels – media coverage, prize money, grassroots participation – there need to be changes at a societal level. More emphasis should be placed on offering young girls choice and making sure there is a female voice at all levels of decision making. “It’s not the case that there is one single
barrier and by removing it everything will follow. There is no quick fix,” she says. “What we need is a comprehensive approach where we work to permeate all the different aspects of sport in order to move towards equality.” “There’s a need for us to work on all
Annie Simpson of Team Matrix Fitness. Events such as the UK Cycling Tour are increasing media coverage of women's sport
levels and on all aspects of sport in order to try to change things. Sport is part of society and you have to address issues of culture and structure in order to make change. The first thing to work on is the awareness and recognition of inequalities that currently exist. A lot of people don’t ask those questions, they just take sport for granted without really looking at it and asking 'is this as good for women and girls as it is for men and boys'?” l
sportsmanagement.co.uk issue 3 2014 © Cybertrek 2014 47
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