ENGSO at GAP Women Project Impact Workshop
On 7 July 2023, the GAP Women Project organised an Impact Workshop to disseminate the findings of the survey, interviews and literature review and collective brainstorm about possible recommendations to increase the number of women in sport.
ENGSO is a partner in the GAP Women project led by our associated member, the Catalan Union of Sports Federations, UFEC. The main objective of the project is to raise awareness among the sports sector, public authorities and the public of the importance of gender equality and inclusion.
The research findings suggest that it is necessary to consider facilitators and constraints not only within women, but also between the people involved in sport and the structural organisation of sport when trying to formulate recommendations.
The six testimonies that followed gave a great personal insight into those research findings. Charlotte Girard-Fabre, Secretary General of IFSO and chairwoman of the EPAS Consultative Committee, highlighted that even though it is hard to be a woman in a men’s world, it is not impossible and that women should rather listen to their supporters than their distractors to take their rightful spots in the world of sports.
Lisa Wainwright, CEO of the ENGSO member the Sport and Recreation Alliance called on women to find their unique selling point, think strategically, be resilient and gather a group of supporters around you.
ENGSO Vice-President Filipa Godinho also contributed to this impressive line-up of testimonies. She put emphasis on the journey. Every step counts of the process! She also reiterated the necessity of having great leaders around you. Those leaders that see the skills of women and trust their vision to give them the lift needed to access the decision-making positions.
Inspired by those testimonies, the group was split into two workshops. EWS Vice-Chair Tarja Krum led the workshop on “Women’s Access to decision-making senior position in major sport organisations”
Inspired by those testimonies, the group was split into two workshops. EWS Vice-Chair Tarja Krum led the workshop on “Women’s Access to decision-making senior position in major sport organisations”
With small interactive tasks and games, the participants of the impact workshop concluded the session with the following main recommendations:
For access to decision-making positions: “Having mentorship programmes for decision-making positions and involve testimonial and publicize role models”.
For access to coaching and refereeing positions: “Education towards gender equality”.
GAP WOMEN PROJECT is a European program lead by the Union of Sport Federations of Catalonia (UFEC), co-funded by the European Commission with the aim of eliminating the gender gap in federated sport and promoting inclusive and sustainable sport.
GAP WOMEN is firmly committed to gender equality in sport and to the inclusion of women belonging to groups at risk of social exclusion (immigrants, refugees, physically/intellectually disabled, mentally ill, victims of gender violence, long-term unemployed, etc.).
Read more about the project here: https://gapwomen.ufec.cat/