Gender equality and the 2012 Olympic Games

From the website of the International Working Group on Women and Sport, which also considers the discrimination facing men in synchronized swimming and rythmic gymnastics:

This year’s Olympic Games in London are heralded as the most gender equal in Olympic history and mark some significant achievements in terms of gender equality such as increases in women’s participation and parity of sport disciplines. Despite these encouraging developments, the shadow of gender inequality still lingers over the XXX Olympiad.

For the third time in history, the Olympic Games will be hosted by London, having hosted the Games previously in 1908 and 1948. In 1908 male athletes outnumbered female athletes 53 to 1. In 1948 the ratio had decreased to 10 to 1. The number of men and women participating in the 2012 Olympic Games approaches parity, though men will still outnumber women by 1,114, according to projections (for more comparisons between the three Games hosted by London, see http://to.ly/echK). Nevertheless, IOC President Jacque Rogge deserves appraise for actively promoted equal participation by men and women during his term of office. (See also http://to.ly/ecDG)

Another significant milestone towards female participation is the possibility that every team attending the 2012 London Games might include at least one female competitor for the first time ever. Women made their Olympic debut in 1900 at the Paris Summer Olympic Games at which only 21 female athletes competed. Only two decades ago, 35 NOCs sent male-only teams to Barcelona. By 2012 only three nations – all Muslim countries ruled by monarchies – have yet to send a woman to compete at the Olympic or Paralympic Games: Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia. This stands to change as Qatar plans to send three female Olympic competitors to London and Brunei has pledged to send one woman to the Olympic Games. After initially issuing a statement that women would not be allowed to compete under the kingdom’s flag at this or future Games, Saudi Arabia recently amended its decision by stating:

Continue reading HERE.

New report points out Olympic hypocrisy with regard to Islamist exclusion of women from sport

While the IOC is celebrating Women and Sport in Los Angeles, a new report points out the hypocrisy of the IOC in accepting the participation of countries that exclude women from sport. We recall that the Federation of Gay Games has signed on to an appeal to the International Olympic Committee to respect its principles of sport for all free from religious interference. Read more from Inside the Games:

February 16 - Saudi Arabia should be banned from London 2012 unless they pledge to end discrimination against women which means that the Gulf nation has never sent a female athlete to the Olympics, a new report published today by Human Rights Watch claims.

Saudi Arabia is one of only three countries, long with Brunei and Qatar, never to have sent a female athlete to the Olympics, although Qatar has promised to send women competitors to London providing they qualify.

But in a 51-page report, 'Steps of the Devil': Denial of Women and Girls' Right to Sport in Saudi Arabia," Human Rights Watch claims that Saudi Arabia actively denies girls girls physical education in state schools, as well as following discriminatory practices in licensing women's gyms and supporting only all-male sports clubs.

The Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee also has no programmes for women athletes, which violates the Olympic Charter claims Human Rights Watch, an international non-Governmental organisation based in New York City.

The Charter explicitly forbids "any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex or otherwise."

"'No women allowed,' is the Kingdom's message to Saudi women and girls who want to play sports," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Keep reading HERE.

Read the HRC report HERE.

16 February 2012 / FGG at IOC Women and Sport conference

The Federation of Gay Games will be attending the 5th International Olympic Committee Women and Sport conference in Los Angeles this February. Representing the FGG will be Martha Ehrenfeld, a delegate from Team San Francisco, and a member of the Gay Games 9 Steering Committee, and Shamey Cramer, FGG Officer for Ceremonies.

Under the theme “Together Stronger: the Future of Sport”, the 5th World Conference on Women and Sport will bring together participants and high-level speakers from the sports community, the United Nations system, specialised organisations, governments, the business world and the media.

Held from 16-18 February 2012 in Los Angeles, USA, the event is organised jointly by the IOC, The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games.

Programme highlights

Discussion topics will cover a variety of subjects associated with the efforts to strengthen women’s representation in sport leadership positions such as:

• “Leadership views on women in the world of sport”
• “Partnerships for progress”
• “Setting the pace for a sustainable responsibility”
• “Women, sport and the media”
• “Government, legislature and attitudes”
• “Matters medical”
• “Empowering women and girls through education”
• “Role models and leadership”
• “Business of sport”
• “Sport, Peace and Development”

The last plenary session will be dedicated to the Youth to let them share their views on “Growing up in a gender-balanced sporting society”.



Read all our coverage of this conference HERE.

Women and Sport conference: progress report

From Kumamoto to Sydney, the 2006-2010 progress report from the International Working Group on Women and Sport has been published. You can download it HERE.

Women and Sport conference: day 3

Kate Rowe concludes her reports on the Women and Sport conference in Sydney.

Day 3 began commenced with a panel of "Gen X" and "Gen Y" women representatives from the UK, Japan, Botswana, and the US. The panel was a conversation about where they had come from, what their passions and dreams were for young women and sport. It was a very informative and fresh look at the future of women in sport.

The final session was a keynote address by the Honorable Michael Kirby AC OMG. Justice Kirby is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, and it renowned for his stand on human rights. Those present at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Gay Games will remember his remarkable speech. At the conference, he gave an impassioned plea about human rights through sport and in particular for women. However his greatest plea was for human rights for gays and lesbians, citing his recent experience on IDAHO at an event held in Hong Kong. His address was received with enthusiastic applause.

The final session was devoted to the practice of sport. We had an afternoon of trying out all different kinds of sports. Wheelchair basketball (how tough is that!), cricket, Australian Rules Football, and of course soccer. On this athletic note, we said goodbye after three days of intense debate and enlightening conversations. The contacts made will be precious for the future of the Gay Games. There was great interest in the Federation and the event, as well as offers to join our family as volunteers.

The next Women and Sport conference will be held in Helsinki in 2014, and I hope the FGG will be present there too.

Women and Sport conference: day 2

Kate Rowe continues her reports on the Women and Sport conference in Sydney.

The days started with a plenary session entitled Leadership and Sport Governance, presented by Peter Holmes a Court, a wealthy businessman who co-owns a major rugby club. he gave a wonderful talk on strategies of how to get more women on board. I look forward to sharing some of the ideas he put out there. He was followed by Moya Dodds, a past Matilda (Australia's national women's soccer team) and now a lawyer who serves on the board of the Football Federation of Australia. She is the woman to serve as Vice President of the Asian Football Confederation.

In the afternoon, I presented my paper, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and by the way Parity - Lesbians at the Gay Games". About 50 people attended, which was great, since there were many other talks taking place at the same time. About a third of them had attended the Gay Games.

I gave an overview of the history of the Games, using Australia as a case study to show the effort made to increase women's participation and involvement. I presented the history of women on the board of the Federation and the challenges faced in the here and now of recruiting and retaining women on the board. I noted that unlike most of the organisations presented at the conference, the FGG was entirely voluntary, and the investment in time and finance can be a deterrent to recruiting board members, and in particular women.

I spoke of the Federation's Gender Equity policy, adopted at the 2009 Annual Meeting, and the challenge in now implementing this policy. It's not enough to express good intentions, it's essential to push for it to become a reality.

I closed with a Gay Games VIII promotional video, which received a great round of applause.

The presentation was very well received and I had several women make inquiries for follow up contact. In particular, I met five young women from Smith College in Massachusetts, all post graduates with a degree in Sport and Exercise Science who are looking to volunteer...they are our future.

Afterwards I attended two great sessions: one on the issue of intersex people in sport, which is interesting in light of the FGG's Gender Identity Policy. The other was on discrimination against women within the IOC, which denounced the men's club status of the IOC.

Women and Sport conference: day 1

A report from FGG VP External Affairs Kate Rowe:

The day stated with a keynote address on Finance and Media for Gender Equality in Sport, given by the head of Australia's public free-to-air TV station ABC.
Throughout the rest of the day there were 38 presentations divided into several streams.

Author of anew book on the Gay Games, Caroline Symons of Victoria University, Melbourne (winner of a 2007 FGG Legacy Award for Scholarship and Research) presented ',Come out to Play: Sexuality Sport and Social Inclusion", while Tom Waddell Award winner Dutch Lydia La Rrivera-Zijdel presented the SPART program in Ethopia, a program to empower women with disabilities through sport.

During the morning I attended the stream on Women and Leadership in Sport with reports on some very powerful and positive strategies to get more women on sporting boards. Especially good was a presentation from Amanda Bennett form Sport UK. The development programme she described lasts for three years, and uses mentors, internships and courses to enable women to develop skills and experience to take better take leadership roles in the sporting workforce. Another great presentation was by Sue Tibbals from the UK Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation


I continued to make great contacts for the FGG, for example with Karin Lofstrom from the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport, and several women from African countries attending; including Zambia, Senegal, Tanzania, Namibia, as well as women from Haiti.

The day finished with a very strong and sobering address on the issue of violence against women in sport.

I'll be presenting my talk tomorrow, and am looking forward to share our experience at the FGG and the Gay Games.

Women and Sport conference: opening day

A report from FGG VP External Affairs Kate Rowe:

I was among over 400 women who attended the opening ceremony for the 5th International Working Group on Women and Sport conference, held at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney.

The event began with a 'welcome to country' dance by a local indigenous group. This was followed by the opening speech by the Governor General of Australia Quentin Bryce, Australia's first ever female Governor General. Kate Ellis, the Australian Federal Minister for Sport, used the occasion to launch the new federal government strategy for women in sport.

The keynote address was given by Ugandan Rachel Mayanja, UN Assistant Secretary-General and special advisor on gender issues and the advancement of women. I noted that while she discussed various forms of discrimination involving women, she neglected to mention sexual orientation.

There was a Q&A session afterwards, during which I asked Ms Mayanja if the UN was going to take up the issues of sexuality in sport.