Re-watch the “Every woman is welcome in sport - are they?” webinar
The policy-implementation gap. Women are not a homogenous group. And are sport federations ready to change? These were the key takeaways from the “Every woman is welcome in sport webinar - are they” which took place on 4 March 2024.
The webinar also marked the kick off the GAP Women project #Women’s Day campaign, presented the main learnings from EWS 2023 research and shared the “Change readiness” research and good practices from the CHANGE project.
The moderator of the webinar and EWS Chair Sallie Barker welcomed the participants with a question “Do all women have equal access, opportunities and experience in sport?” Each of the three presentations that followed addressed this question.
Within the framework of the GAP Women project, Zohreh Abdollahkhani tackled the topic of the policy-implementation gap and offered a critical analysis of IOC gender equality policies. She shared insights from her research about the Olympic Games and participation of women on all levels: from athletes, referees, coaches, volunteers and other personnel.
Zohreh Abdollahkhani is a PhD research fellow in gender, sport and sustainability at the University of South Eastern Norway. She also has a Master in global sport management from Seoul National University. Zohreh is also a Former member of the Iranian ice climbing team.
By sharing the latest findings from ENGSO Equality Within Sport Committee research, Angelica Saenz explained the importance of the intersectional approach and taking into account six socio-demographic aspects: age, gender identity, sexual orientation, migrant background, disability and social status. This enabled her to have a deeper look into the experiences women in sport. The results of the research can be read here.
Angélica Sáenz is a PhD student at the Faculty of physical activity and sport sciences at the University of Valencia. She is currently researching about sexual and gender diversity in physical education and sport. For EWS Committee, Angelica conducted a study on women’s participation in sport.
The webinar concluded with a new question “Are sport federations ready to change?”. ENGSO project manager Lovisa Broms presented the key findings from the research conducted within the framework of the CHANGE project which addressed the Challenges and Change Readiness in Grassroot Sport- The research was implemented by the project partner Malmö University and is available here: read the research. EWS Vice Chair Tarja Krum moved from the research to good practices of sport clubs and organisations that were ready to change and successfully included inclusion strategy into their functioning.
PROGRAMME
The policy-implementation gap, a critical analysIS on IOC gender equality policies
Zohreh Abdollahkhani, PhD research fellow in gender, sport and sustainability, University of South Eastern Norway
Zohreh Abdollahkhani is a PhD research fellow in gender, sport and sustainability, University of South Eastern Norway and a Master of global sport management at Seoul National University. She is also a Former member of the Iranian ice climbing team.
PART 2
Participation of women in sport across Europe
Angelica Saenz, researcher of study on women’s participation in sport
Angelica Saenz will share the latest results and learnings from the ENGSO EWS study which was implemented during 2023. The EWS Committee used an intersectional approach, taking into account six socio-demographic aspects: age, gender identity, sexual orientation, migrant background, disability and social status. This enabled a deeper look into the experiences women have within the sporting environment.
Change Readiness in Grassroot Sport: inclusion
Lovisa Broms, project manager CHANGE
Lovisa Broms will present the latest research on Challenges and Change Readiness in Grassroots Sport. The research was implemented within the framework of Erasmus+ project CHANGE by the project partner Department for Sport Sciences at Malmö University, Sweden. The team conducted a background research regarding change management and innovation in contemporary grassroot sports in Europe. During the webinar Lovisa Broms will explain the key findings and outcomes of this research.
Tarja Krum, sustainability manager at the Swedish Sports Association in Finland (Finlands Svenska Idrott)
Tarja Krum will present examples and good practices on how clubs and federations have managed to create a change when it comes to inclusion of girls and women with a focus on grassroots level.
Learn more about the work of:
EWS Committee To ensure a strong commitment to reaching these objectives, the Equality Within Sport (EWS) Committee was created as a hub of expertise on equality. The mission of EWS is to activate and inspire European sport organisations to act on equality, through active advocacy work, education and awareness-raising, strengthening cooperation with ENGSO member organisations and other sport bodies. EWS advocates that everyone can (should!) practise sport safely and freely by promoting opportunities in all levels and sectors of sport. Only by reaching equality, we can use the full potential in sport. engso-education.eu/ews-2023
CHANGE project
The main aim of the project is to develop an educational programme on innovation and change management within the organised sports movement. The programme will focus on building resilience and environmental, economic and social sustainability by focusing on: Digitalisation, Inclusion/Engagement and Sustainability. A group of experts will gather a comprehensive overview of best practices and create an interactive programme that will support the European grassroot sport movement in their work to build sustainable and innovative ways to tackle present and future challenges.
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.).