Breaking Barriers: The Advancement of Women in Sports Leadership and the Path to True Gender Equality

As the sports world continues to evolve, women are taking on leadership roles and making significant strides in advancing gender equality. This progress has led to improvements in policies, increased investments, record attendance, and more media coverage of women’s sporting events.

Despite these advancements, there are still barriers and gender bias that exist within the sports world. A 2023 survey by the Sport Integrity Global Alliance found that only 26.9% of executive positions in international sport federations are held by women. Furthermore, only three out of 31 International Sports Federations surveyed had women in leadership roles.

However, there have been efforts towards increasing representation of women in leadership roles such as Chef de Mission, Technical Official, and coach. The International Olympic Committee has made progress towards achieving true gender equality with 41% of its members being female and more diversity in age and regional representation. In 2022, they achieved gender-equal representation on IOC commissions marking a historic high and a 100% increase since 2013. Similarly, the World Athletics Council has seen growth in the number of women members reaching parity ahead of schedule and setting goals to increase the number of female coaches by 2025.

Looking towards the future, it is clear that there is still work to be done to achieve true gender equality in the sports world but progress is being made and it is an ongoing effort towards a better future for all athletes regardless of their gender.