Report from Friday morning session of Women and Sport conference

Shamey Cramer reports on the Friday morning session of the IOC Women and Sport conference:

The opening sessions was 'Leadership Views on Women in the World of Sport' Moderated by Miss Anita De Frantz, Chair of the IOC Women and Sport Commission, with panelists Dr. Jacques Rogge, IOC President, Her Eminence Ms. Marjon Kamara, Chair, United Nations Commission on Women, Ms. Lakshmi Puri, UN Women, Dr. Nurhayati Assegef, Indoensian Parlimentarian and Olympic champion runner Lord Sebastien Coe.

Lord Coe, as CEO of the 2012 London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, proudly announced that 50% of all London Olympics management staff are women, and that for the first time in Olympic history, the Director of Sport is a woman, Debbie Jevans. And although they can claim 17% ethnic diversity comprised of Asians and Blacks, there was no mention of Muslim/Middle Eastern, Latino/Hispanic or LGBT inclusion.

I met up with fellow FGG delegate Martha Ehrenfeld at the end of the session to plan our strategy for session attendance.

The second session was 'Partnerships for Progress' and included the following:

Ms. Ann Stock, Assistant Secretary of the Education and Culture Affairs Bureau for the US Department of State laid out the three-prong of Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton's "Smart Power Diplomacy" initiative, which will employ Mentors, Envoys and visitors between the US and 190 countries that will engage and empower women through sports initiatives. Stating "Women active in sports achieve higher education and employment when active in sports," Ms. Stock went on to state that the Smart Power Diplomacy initiative will kick off this September, the 40th anniversary of Title IX which provided equal opportunities for women in collegiate and scholastic sports programs.

U.S. Soccer player Danielle Slayton is currently in Malaysia as part of the Dept of State's effort. As a Mentor, Slayton is focusing on teaching leadership skills, the importance of team work and how to make effective lifetime network connections. A few of the initial countries engaged in this initiative include the Caribbean, Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt and Zimbabwe.

Roland Rich, Executive Director of the United Nations Democracy Fund made a presentation on what the UNDF has been doing to promote women through their efforts. "Women are the largest marginalized society on the planet" Rich stated. "Engaging them provides the greatest opportunity to change the patriarchal politics. The role of women in any given society is a good litmus test of modernity. The IOC and the UN strongly embrace this belief and look forward to a successful, continuing partnership in this effort."

Gina Drosos, President, Global Personal Beauty, Procter & Gamble (based in Cincinnati): "A partnership should improve and mutually benefit each organization. Look for partners that provide additional strengths for broader, more meaningful impact on the world."

Lunch was provided by the NCAA. Martha and I had the opportunity to speak with Karen Morrison, Director for their Office of Inclusion, Women and LGBT Outreach. We discussed the possibility of the NCAA sponsoring a conference similar in style to the IOC Women and Sport conference as part of Gay Games 9. She seemed very excited by the prospect since they have funds specifically allocated that they can use for such items.

Read all our coverage of this conference HERE.