Women in Sport (formerly the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation), the leading charity dedicated to transforming sport for the benefit of every woman and girl in the UK, is marking International Women’s Day on 8 March with a double-header of events.
On the day itself, Women in Sport ambassador, Kate Hardcastle, will host an array of women from the worlds of sport and business at Bradford Bulls’ match against Hunslet Hawks to raise awareness of the work Women in Sport carry out to address gender inequality at the top level of sport in the UK.
The event will celebrate the achievements of women who have broken through to forge careers at the senior levels of sport, and acknowledge the work that still needs to take place to get more women into the workforce of sport.
Research from Women in Sport shows that almost half of publicly funded national governing bodies (NGBs) of sport in England have less than 25% of their board composed of women, while three had no female representation at all at board level.
Speaking about the event Kate Hardcastle, who is also a Director at Bradford Bulls, said:
“As a passionate advocate for women, sports, business and the North, I want to ensure we continue to highlight the importance of sport for girls and women. As a young girl, playing rugby league improved my confidence, teamwork skills, fitness and general outlook on life and I am completely grateful to my father who worked tirelessly to establish a network to allow girls to play rugby league.
In a separate but equally important event on 6 March, Women in Sport’s CEO Ruth Holdaway will be speaking at a FIFA-led event about the future of women’s football and women in sport governance.
Taking place at the home of FIFA in Zurich, Ruth and a line-up of guest speakers and panellists will use the FIFA Women’s Football and Leadership Conference as a platform for debate on the current and future relationship between women and sport.
In two panels, moderated by the BBC’s Jacqui Oatley, the issues of best practice in women’s football and the challenges they face when it comes to leadership opportunities will be discussed.
Those interested in this event should note it will be streamed live on FIFA.com.
Both of these events follow on from the recent announcement that Women in Sport will be launching a new three-year programme of activity to help address the current gender inequality at the top level of sport in the UK.
With funding provided by Comic Relief, Women in Sport will begin by publishing a full audit of Board and senior leadership roles throughout national governing bodies (NGBs) working in England.
Sport England and UK Sport have also pledged support to the programme as part of the organisations’ respective commitments to women’s representation in sport.
The first report will be launched in August 2015 at a sport roundtable event and will be followed by annual updates on progress made across the industry.
Speaking about using International Women’s Day as a platform to promote the role of women in sport, Ruth Holdaway, CEO of Women in Sport said,
"Women have a vital role to play in the management, leadership and delivery of sport, and we will continue to champion the right of all women to work and provide a valuable contribution to the sector.
“International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to reflect on the progress made in women’s sport – and to highlight the need for continued focus."
