Marie Denitton moderating a panel at EPAS Breakfast Roundtable on sport officiating and gender equality
The Breakfast Roundtable on sport officiating and gender equality, organised by the Council of Europe Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS), was held on 8 March 2024, International Women’s Day, in a hybrid format (onsite in Strasbourg, France, and online). Marie Denitton, the office director at ENGSO and Gender Equality Rapporteur EPAS CC, moderated a discussion on women refereeing at the event organized by EPAS (Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport) of the Council of Europe.
The discussion featured three former and current referees – Patricia Campos Domenech, Marija Cicak, and Sandra Deveza, who engaged in a conversation about the treatment of women in various sports, the gender pay gap, and other relevant issues.
Marie was elected in 2022 to hold the position of Gender Equality Rapporteur within the Consultative Committee of EPAS. The main task of the Gender Equality Rapporteur is to ensure that a gender equality perspective is integrated into the work of the Consultative Committee.
During the event, the guest speakers presented initiatives in place to combat discrimination against referees, and some female referees from a range of sports shared their experiences in this area. Panellists discussed the steps that should be taken to combat discrimination against officiators and promote greater gender equality in the sector.
The roundtable also presented the a data update reflecting the clear imbalance in sports officiating in terms of equality, and some first information from the brand new data collection in the area of officiating from the joint European Union – Council of Europe project “All In Plus: promoting greater gender equality in sport”