We must act to create an environment in high performance sport where women can flourish

I was incredibly fortunate?to be in Auckland this week for the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport, the largest gathering in the world to focus on advancing gender equality in sport.??It has been enlightening and empowering to be here for such a crucial and perfectly timed conference.?

It is perfectly timed because we are meeting in the warm afterglow of a fabulous Rugby Union World Cup here in New Zealand with a final that saw more than 40,000 supporters packed into the world-famous Eden Park stadium. I’m sitting at the airport still reflecting on a magical night that saw a packed iconic stadium rocking with the deafening noise of fans cheering on two fantastic teams. Every day someone at the conference has commented on how proud they felt as New Zealanders hearing a sold-out Eden Park chanting the Black Ferns name. Something that had never happened before. This magnificent tournament was the latest in a series of major sporting events which have not only shown women’s high-performance sport to be filled with all the skill, fast pace, entertainment and gripping narratives you would expect, but have also demonstrated the powerful role that sport can play as a catalyst for social change.?

This year in the UK, we have had something of a bumper period of hosting the world’s best sporting events and all of them have had women’s sport at their very heart. We had the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July, which was the first multi-sport event ever to have more female medal events than male medal events, and we are currently approaching the final stages of a superb Rugby League World Cup where the Women’s, Wheelchair and Men’s competitions are integrated into one event.

This summer, England also hosted the Women’s European Football Championships which really captured the imagination of the UK public. We saw throughout the tournament that the prominence of the action (the final was watched by 17.4 million people on TV) helped change attitudes towards women and girls around our nation. We saw young boys wearing football shirts with female player’s names on the back, we saw female commentators and pundits given prominent roles during prime-time broadcast and, anecdotally, I heard numerous stories about men changing their attitudes towards women’s football.?

In addition, people are talking about inspiration created by the athletes - not just their undoubted ability and skill on the field of play, but the way they showcase their personalities and passions off the field of play. We have seen impressive women from around the globe using their platform as successful athletes to bring focus to issues that are important to them, and that matter in society.?All of this taken together meant that we have witnessed great examples of how a major sporting event can not only provide world class sport for people to enjoy but can also encourage social progress.

We are lucky to have a generation of athletes who are prepared to use the platform their talent and hard work has afforded them to demonstrate leadership in the movement towards gender equality and other social causes. At UK Sport, we have just launched a new initiative called Powered By Purpose which is a 6-month programme designed to help athletes use their platform to inspire, facilitate and enable positive change. We developed this programme following research which found that 86% of UK Sport funded athletes want to use their platform to make a difference to society. The programme will empower athletes to make a difference to causes that are authentic to them such as period poverty, environmental sustainability or body positivity.??

I believe very strongly that the power of major sporting events to advance social change coupled with this willingness of athletes to use their platform to advocate for social causes means that we now have a real chance to maximise the potential of sport to advance gender equality around the world. But as sport leaders, we cannot stand by, offer warm words and expect this progress to just happen. If we are to make the most of this moment then we need to act, we need to act with urgency and, in my mind, we need to act in three specific ways

Firstly, we must act to create an environment in high performance sport where women can flourish. This means we need to invest in and prioritise women’s high-performance sport, right across the board. I feel very lucky to come from an Olympic and Paralympic sport background where equal profile has been provided to male and female athletes for many years. At UK Sport, our investments into sports and athletes have long been made irrespective of gender and this has allowed us to see first-hand how high-performance women’s sport, has the potential to inspire the public as much as any male equivalent and, moreover, it arguably has even more scope to encourage social progress.?

Secondly, we need to act to foster an environment in high performance sport which is fully inclusive for women. One of the things we have done at UK Sport to help achieve this is to publish guidance for athletes and sports on pregnancy. This guidance recommends a framework which athletes and sports can follow to ensure a responsible approach is adopted pre, during and post-childbirth, including return to training and competition, if desired. Whilst there is, of course, much more for us to do in this space, this work represents an important step forward in sending the message loud and clear that high performance sport is truly an inclusive place for women.?

Thirdly, we need to act to make sure women are fairly represented in the room where all decisions on the future of sport are made. This means moving on from thinking we need to fix the women and instead focus more of our attention on fixing the culture. Rather than focussing just on upskilling women (who often already have the skills and experiences needed to succeed), we need to spend more time improving the culture of international sporting institutions to make sure they are supportive of and inclusive to women. We also need to provide women with more opportunities to build the networks they will need to make progress in international sport leadership because we need more women in leadership positions to supercharge the power of high-performance sport to advance gender equality.?

If we take the required action in these three areas, then the momentum built in recent years means we have an unprecedented opportunity to ensure sport fulfils its potential to advance gender equality. Sport can only fulfil its potential if women can fulfil their potential.?I am an optimist and I believe that we can really move the dial even further on this in the near future which is why I am so pleased that the UK is hosting the Secretariat of the International Working Group for Women and Sport for the next four years. I am very enthusiastic about what can be achieved in that time, and I look forward to working with and learning from our colleagues from around the world to take the action needed to ensure high performance sport can play its part in advancing gender equity across the globe.

Dame Katherine Grainger