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Preview: World Conference on Women’s Sport

May 17, 2024

The International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) will be holding their 5th World Conference on Women in Sport in Sydney, Australia, from May 20-23rd 2010.

The IWG, established in Brighton, England in 1994 at the 1st World Conference, is an independent group which consists of members of both government and non-government organisations from different regions across the globe.

With its main financial support coming from the UK, Namibia, Canada, Japan and Australia, the IWG focuses on promoting and supporting women and girls in the world of sport.

What’s it all about?

This, the 5th Conference, is the first time the IWG will hold its main event in Australia. Previous conferences have taken place in Brighton, U.K. (1994), Windhoek, Namibia (1998), Montreal, Canada (2002) and Kumamoto, Japan (2006).

The main conference venue this year will be the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre located in Darling Harbour, a deepwater cove of Sydney Harbour. On the final day proceedings will move to the Sydney Olympic Park, home of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. On this day there will also be a Women’s Sports Festival celebrating women’s participation and achievement in sport.

The conference provides a unique opportunity for IWG members and other participants from all over the world to share their experiences and inspire changes to be made at both national and international level. The IWG states that “The Conference program will be designed to promote interaction, emphasise practical experience and explore ways to support positive change.”

It’s Chair, Johanna Adriaanse, expects numerous nations to be represented in Sydney, and recently told Sportsister, “so far we have participants registered from approximately 50 countries.”

The Conferences Key Themes

“There are five key themes,” explains Johanna Adriaanse, “but the main over all themes are play, think, change.

“You could say that play represents the cultures that play athletics. Think represents the researchers - the thinkers - that we like to involve in a big discussion to look for some solution for change.”

The five sub themes to the conference are

  • Women, sport and human rights
  • Financing and media for gender equality in sport
  • Physical activity and health for women
  • Sport and social change
  • Engaging Generation Y and Z in sport and physical activity

According to Johanna, the biggest issue facing women in sport today lies in the leadership of sport – the number of women on sports committees and organisations – or more to the point, the lack of them.

“We need to increase the number of women on committees and organisations. We need to have more women as coaches at a high performance level, more women at a high level of sports administration.”

Other issues that are close to the heart of Johanna Adriaanse and will be discussed at the Sydney conference include violence towards women and the lack of media coverage for women in sport.

“Another key issue we are looking at is the violence at women in sport. It could be coaches abusing young athletes, which can happen in swimming or gymnastics in particular but also other sports. Usually it is the male coaches who are predators and girls who are the victims, but lately, and particularly in Australia in the sport environment, male athletes are misbehaving against women when they are in football teams or on tour in a different country.

“We have heard about sexual harassment particularly when alcohol is involved from sportsmen and generally a lack of respect in the sporting environment,” says Johanna.

She continues, “Another issue is the media coverage in women’s sport; we don’t get enough. If women don’t get coverage then they don’t have the chance to get good sponsorship, so often they have to work alongside their training.

“It also means that women don’t have so many role models because they are invisible for teenage girls, they don’t know the women because they aren’t in the media.”

Who will be speaking?

Various members from the worlds of sport and gender equality have been lined up to talk at the conference, perhaps most notably Ms Rachel Mayanja from the United Nations. The Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, is originally from Uganda and has a law degree from Makarere University, as well as a master’s degree in law from the Harvard University Law School, United States. She will be giving a key note address in Sydney.

Other key figures who have agreed to talk at the conference include Elizabeth Broderick, Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination; Peter Holmes à Court, Co-owner (with Russell Crowe) of the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Chairperson of White Bull Holdings, ISFM and the Passionate Group; and Prof Dr Kari Fasting, President of WomenSport International and Professor at The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

Moya Dodd, lawyer and Board Member of the Football Federation Australia; Justin Holdforth, Head of ABC TV Sport & Events; and MC - Jane Caro will also address the conference.

Significance of Sydney

Australia is thought by many to be one of the great sporting nations of the world. Their cricket, rugby and swimming teams all excel and their hosting of the Olympic Games was one of the most successful of recent years. So in such a sport mad country is their still an issue with women in sport?

“Definitely,” according to Johanna.

“There are still opportunities for people to play professional sports and it’s probably the same in England, women can play cricket or football or rugby, but there is such a big pay difference – if women even get paid at all. I mean men that play football or cricket are paid very handsomely.

“If there was such a pay difference in a different field, say a lawyer, and men and women had such an enormous pay discrepancy it would not be accepted, while in sport it more or less is.

“Another issue is when some women have some masculine and some feminine characteristics. The problem is, if they can’t compete in a women’s competition, then where can they? Treatment around these individuals is not managed properly.

“It (the Caster Semanya situation) was a big issue here and it wasn’t handled very well at all. It still is a big issue as Caster Semenya (the South African athlete) is about to start racing again.”

The Freeman Factor

Cathy Freeman, a Sydney Olympic gold medalist and one of Australia’s most famous athletes, has been selected as an official Ambassador for the 5th IWG conference. Cathy, who is one of the country’s most loved sportspeople, will be attending the opening ceremony and will be a special guest throughout the conference.

Johanna Adriaanse explains why the IWG particularly wanted Cathy Freeman at the event.

“One of the reasons would be because she is a magnificent athlete and an iconic figure in Australia. With the conference being here it was important to have an athlete who really promotes the conference and is a role model.

“She has an Olympic medal, commonwealth gold medal, and has won World Championships; she is an outstanding athlete. She also has the indigenous background and we think that adds something to it with the original custodians of the land.”

Q&A with Johanna Adriaanse

1.) How does the organisation operate on a global level?

We have representatives from all the different regions, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and America, and the main way we operate is through the internet; we have a well developed website and we put our resources on that.

We are also a co-ordinating body, so if we get requests or questions we contact people in the different regions and support each other and share experiences.

We have a newsletter where we focus on what’s happening in the world so that we can raise awareness and educate people on women and sport.

2.) How many years have the conferences been going?

The first IWG conference was actually held in 1994 in Brighton, England. It moved to Africa in 1998, Canada in 2002, and then Japan in 2006. As you can see it went to each country in a different region and this year in May the fifth world conference will be held in Australia.

3.) What are the key themes to the conference?

There are five key themes, but the main over all thing is play, think, change.

You know that when we are playing the sport we get involved and participate - but when we actually stop and think about what is happening with women in sport, you have to think ‘are we really on a level playing field, or can we improve things?’ And the last thing is change; we want to change certain things so we can improve the place for women in sport.

4.) Why is it essential to look at women’s sport as its own sector rather than just sport as a whole?

Well sometimes when we look at sport as a whole the idea of gender is somewhat abducted, we don’t get a clear focus on it, and I think it is very important that a group of people look at gender dimensions of sport. Ultimately when women are properly represented in sport and have all the opportunities then that is better for sports.

5.) Tell us about yourself, what sport you like doing or watching?

I like lots of sports but my favourite is field hockey, I used to play for the Netherlands as I lived in Amsterdam for 25 years before migrating to Sydney. I also like sailing and ice skating which could have something to do with where I grew up. Sailing because we have so many lakes there, and ice skating because in the winter when everything froze it was wonderful to go out on the lakes and canals.

The The 5th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport begins on Thursday 20th May and will conclude Sunday 23rd May 2010.

For more information visit www.iwg-gti.org

Rachel Stansfield, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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