Sport promoting gender equality on International Women's Day

In a year that has seen gender equality and women’s rights take centre stage, yesterday’s International Women's Day presented an opportunity to showcase the unique way sport has and is being used to help achieve goals 5 and 10 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Beyond Sport has continuously advocated for the role that sport can play in empowering women and facilitating gender equality. In 2017, winners of the Beyond Sport Global Awards included some outstanding organizations that are actively promoting gender equality in communities around the world.

In 2018, Beyond Sport is placing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals at the core of the annual Global Awards again. Each award aligns with at least one of the SDGs, including the ‘Sport for Equality Award’, which recognises SDG5: Gender Equality and SDG10: Reduced Inequalities. This award is open to any organization, project, or program using sport as a tool to enable equality between demographics, whether that be gender, economic, racial, religious, sexual orientation or physical ability.

Find out more about the Awards that open for entries on March 22 here!

CELEBRATING WOMEN IN SPORT

To honor this year's International Women's Day, here are some highlights of sporting organizations from around the world who are having their say on the role sport can play to improve the lives of women and young girls.

Nike

Nike have launched a new video featuring tennis star and gender equality advocate, Serena Williams, detailing her decorated career and how she has proven time and time again that there is no right or wrong way to be a woman.

Adidas

Adidas have unveiled a new global campaign, 'See Creativity', as the brand looks to show creativity in sport around the world. The new campaign is the latest chapter of adidas’ 'Here to Create' campaign and is told through the lens of female athletes. The ad includes a number of motivated sportswomen, and celebrates creators who are confident and courageous from different disciplines. 

International Olympic Committee

In support of International Women’s Day and the call to action to #PressForProgress, the IOC is launching an overview of 25 key recommendations from its Gender Equality Review Project, which focus on changing the conversation about women in sport holistically – from participation to representation and decision-making.

England Rugby

This International Women’s Day, the RFU has announced that it is partnering with the Women’s Sport Trust for their Onside campaign, which will be aimed at engaging men and boys as role models to speak up and take action to support women and girls in sport. There are now more than 30,000 registered female players in England, and the successful Inner Warrior recruitment campaign has seen 12,00 women attend camps nationwide, a third of whom had never picked up a rugby ball in their lives. 

Two Circles

The number of fans attending elite women’s sport in the UK will pass half a million for the first time in 2018 according to proprietary data analysis by Two Circles. The data-driven sports marketing agency analysed ticketed UK sporting attendances since 2013 and found that the number of fans watching women’s sport* will increase 49% on 2017 to hit 682,000 in 2018. Since 2013, attendances for UK women’s sports have grown, on average, 38% year-on-year.

Laureus

Laureus Sport for Good Foundation have written an executive summary about empowering young girls and women through sport for development. Research into the Significance of Female Coaches and Female Leadership in Sport for Development cofirms that this is an important part of getting girls and young women actively engaged. Together with community outreach strategies, gender sensitive and adapted program models, and having strategies in place to increase girls and young women’s participation, female coaches and female leadership are a critical component for girls and young women’s empowerment through sport for development.