ENGSO EWS organises European Summit on Gender Equality and Diversity in Sport
On February 12, 2025, the Equality Within Sport (EWS) committee of ENGSO hosted a European Summit on Gender Equality and Diversity in Sport in Luxembourg.
This event was organised as a follow-up of the EWS initiatives to bring together key actors from the European level in Madrid, Spain (2023) and in Brussels, Belgium (2024).
The event gathered key stakeholders working on the topics in Europe: IWG Women and Sport, European University Sport Association (EUSA), European Olympic Committee (EOC) EU office, International Federation for Sports Officials (IFSO), Global Observatory on Gender Equality, EPAS Council of Europe, European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF), UNESCO, Alice Milliat Association, and European Paralympic Committee (EPC).
The event provided a platform for each organisation to present their highlights and their ongoing work on gender equality and diversity, creating synergies between actors and opportunities to cooperate on specific activities.
Participants discussed challenge(s) encountered and the gaps identified that would need to be addressed at the European level. Here are some of the key takeaways from the exchanges:
Lack of sustainable funding: to avoid competition between actors, importance of more diversity of funding, together with gender budgeting and intersectionality.
Lack of data: data is key in making the problems visible to decision-makers and funders, and essential to evaluate the impact of any project/program for gender equality and diversity in sport. The All In Plus EU-CoE joint project can be celebrated as it offers great tools (analytical report, dashboard and national factsheets) to address the issue in 21 European countries.
Cultural differences: Europe is diverse and so are the approaches on the topic. Efforts at the European level need to be strengthened to define a common terminology and continue funding cross-border projects. Sport organisations struggle to navigate the different recommendations from international, European and national organisations, on issues such as the participation of transgender and non-binary athletes in sports.
Targeted advocacy: to bridge the gap between policy and implementation in a context where gender equality and diversity lack investments from the leadership because it does not always bring short-term tangible return.
Focus on positive economic impacts: to convince leaders of the necessity to take action, to involve men allies, and to highlight the added value of diversity instead of focusing on the potential “losses” from people in positions of power.
Collective objectives: need of stronger and more precise common goals to increase the impact of all organisations attending the summit.
Participants were inspired by ENGSO Youth’s motto on youth participation, which could also apply to the work on gender equality and diversity in sport: “If you are not invited to sit at the table – bring your own chair!”
Current unfavorable political landscape impacts people’s life and their ability to take part in society and in sport. Initiatives to advance gender equality and diversity in sport are facing very concrete threats, globally and inside Europe. The organisations participating in the summit committed to continue their consultative work to have a greater impact together.
The summit was followed by the closing event of the All In Plus EU-CoE joint project.
All events related to equality and diversity are accessible on ENGSO Education.