By Lori Ewing
(Reuters) – World Athletics has a three-year action plan to empower women across several areas such as coaching and officiating that the governing body says will position the sport as a global model for equity and inclusion.
World Athletics announced the Gender Leadership Taskforce’s strategic plan on Friday, on the eve of International Women’s Day on Saturday, while including some sobering global statistics.
While the World Athletics Council achieved gender parity with 50% representation in 2023, it has not been matched in leadership positions throughout the sport’s membership.
And while 40% of the international technical officials in athletics at the 2024 Olympics were women, only 27% of World Athletics’ 152 Gold level referees are female.
Only 11% of the coaches at the 2023 World Athletics Championships were women, and “given the gender parity witnessed on the field of play this is a disproportionately low figure, and a focus remains on increasing the number of female high-performance coaches at major athletics events,” the body said on Friday.
While World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he was “extremely proud” of the progress the federation and the Gender Leadership Taskforce had made since it was established in 2017, there was room for improvement.
“Athletics has gender parity in elite participation on the field of play, but we want this to be reflected off the field by empowering women and girls with equality of opportunity in leadership and decision-making roles across all facets of the sport,” he said.
The task force has identified action areas that include growing the pipeline for women in decision-making positions throughout the sport; increasing gender equity across administrators, referees and coaches; and continuing to raise awareness and promote gender equity through various programmes and campaigns, among others.
“We are proud of the progress we have made so far, but we know challenges remain in achieving equitable gender representation among administrators, coaches and referees,” said task force Chair Stephanie Hightower.
“It is clear we cannot create a one size fits all solution but by joining forces with leaders and organisations with expertise in this area we hope to change mindsets and make lasting change for women and girls in our sport.”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Toby Davis)
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