EWS at the IWG Women & Sport Pearl Anniversary
On December 10, ENGSO EWS, represented by Vice Chair Sarah Townsend, had the privilege of attending the IWG Women & Sport Pearl Anniversary reception hosted by City of London Corporation at London’s Guildhall. The event welcomed 150 senior leaders, athletes and change-makers working in sport and gender equality.
EWS Vice Chair Sarah Townsend attended the event on behalf of Tarja Krum, EWS Chair and European regional representative at the IWG Women & Sport.
Guests were welcomed with a reception in the Guildhall crypt and enjoyed a moment of networking prior to presentations and a panel discussion.
After being welcomed by Alderman Robert Howard on behalf of City of London Corporation, Sport England CEO Tim Hollingsworth opened the evening’s presentations followed by Global Co-Chair IWG Women and Sport Annamarie Phelps CBE OLY, who placed the upcoming IWG Women and Sport Global Summit in its 30-year context highlighting the work that remains to be done in the path to gender equality.
Jacqueline Bourke, from Getty Images offered the keynote presentation on unlocking the power of visuals for women’s sport using the Summer Olympics 2024 in Paris as a reference for customer surveys and image searches and downloads.
Main take-aways from the keynote presentation:
- Fewer than ¼ women participate in sports, although this varies with markets, physical and mental health benefits are the key drivers for sports participation but that representation of sport differs among women by region, notably for diversity, equality and inclusion.
- GenZ males tend to separate themselves from all other gender & generational groups with an appeal towards imagery representing traditional views of competitive masculinity in sport placing importance on imagery of success and winning, training and championships.
- Regarding disability sport, there is strong support for better representation in sport, the desire coming notably more from women than men, but with 73% of survey participants believing in equal coverage opportunities.
People want authentic visuals, where representation is sincere, honest and genuine. Closing the gender visibility gap means not only greater visibility, but authentic portrayals of women in sport focusing on their skill and athleticism and not glamour and beauty, their bodies as they exist and not as they are imagined, and their emotions in their full range of complexity and not diluted to stereotypically acceptance.
Following the keynote, Annamarie Phelps facilitated a panel with speakers Stacey Copeland (Pave the Way charity), Chris Grant OBE (Chair, British Basketball), Matt Barrett (Goal Click), and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson (Paralympian) with a focus on visibility and representation, after which participants were invited to join the reception in the wonderful setting of the East Crypt.
We were happy to meet up with Lisa Wainwright, CEO of ENGSO member organisation Sport and Recreation Alliance, UK.
The IWG Global Summit will take place in Birmingham in July 2026 – a landmark opportunity to unite, collaborate, and shape the future of women and girls in sport!