International Developments in Equity

In August 2005, the International Association of Physical Education and Sport for Girls and Women (IAPESGW) held its 15th Congress in Edmonton, Canada. For more information on the Congress themes and presentations, visit www.iapesgw.org.

International Olympic Committee Women and Sport Commission

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Women and Sport Commission was established in 1995 by the IOC President to advise the IOC Executive Board on suitable policies to be developed in this field. It meets once a year. On the basis of its recommendations, an action programme is developed and implemented by the IOC through its Section for Women's Advancement.

Great Britain is represented on the Women and Sport Working Group by Liz Ferris and Debbie Jevans.

In 1997, as part of its Women and Sport policy, the IOC established targets for women's membership of National Olympic Committee Executive Committees. These were for women to hold at least 10% of executive decision making positions by 2001 rising to 20% by 2005. Research was undertaken by the Institute of Sport and Leisure Policy at Loughborough and the IOC to evaluate the impact of the targets on structures, activities and people involved with NOCs.

The results were presented to delegates at the IOC World Conference on Women and Sport in Morocco in 2003, and provided evidence of ways in which the targets have been successful. They also provided greater impetus to further develop this policy and meet the targets for 2005.

Women, Leadership and the Olympic Movement [PDF, 303k]

Women into Paralympic Sport (WIPS)

The Commission for Women in Sport (CWIS) is a Standing Committee within the International Paralympic Committee. It is able to present Motions to the IPC Executive Committee and ensures that Women in Paralympic Sport is an ongoing focus of the organisation.

The first WIPS Regional Summit was held in December 2004 in Tehran. The I.R. Iran National Paralympic Committee organised and hosted the IPC Middle East Region WIPS Summit that included representatives from Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Qatar. This Summit produced several key outcomes including an action plan to increase opportunities in sport for girls and women with disabilities and a WIPS committee for the Region.

The network now has 100 members registered into the WIPS Network from 36 countries. Anyone interested in promoting women in Paralympic sport is invited to submit articles, enquiries, information on events such as conferences, meetings, clinics, programmes, athlete success stories, relevant news items or research findings. Submissions should be e-mailed to: WIPS@paralympic.org

Further information is available from the IPC website.

International Working Group on Women and Sport

In 2003, UK Sport was delighted to host the annual meeting of the International Working Group for Women and Sport at Bisham Abbey. During the course of the meeting, the UK Strategy for Women and Sport was launched.

The IWG was formed in 1994 to promote and monitor the implementation the Brighton Declaration by governments and national and international organisations worldwide. The IWG has also drawn up an action plan that targets areas and organisations where women and sport is not on the agenda and seeks the inclusion of issues relating to women and sport on major conferences.

Fourth World Conference on Women and Sport

The Fourth World Conference on Women and Sport, organised by the IWG, was held in Kumamoto, Japan in May 2006. The theme of the Conference was 'Participation in Change'.