World Athletics moves towards gender equity in 2023

March 19, 2023

With a main goal of achieving 40% female representation on its Council including one female Vice-President this year, World Athletics has announced that it is taking "significant steps" towards gender equality in 2023.

Announced on International Women's Day, the global governing body has also set a target to have 40% of female participants in World Athletics online courses for future sports administrators while pledging to help its 214 member federations implement safeguarding policies.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (pictured below), an International Olympic Committee member since July 2020 advised "I am immensely proud that World Athletics is once again leading the way for gender equity in sport.

"It was an important part of the reforms we introduced in 2016.

"In today's world, it is not enough to provide equal opportunity, we must provide equity.

"In order to achieve true equity in our sport, it is important that we offer our female athletes, administrators, and officials the tools and environment they need to be empowered to pursue careers at all levels of athletics - be it by setting quotas for female representation on our Council, or providing more flexible learning and development opportunities that better suit women's commitments - we are absolutely dedicated to making our sport equitable and representative for all."

Double Olympic champion Coe also noted that Nielsen research states that 74% of fans believe that World Athletics is committed to championing equality.

He urged all of the organisation's stakeholders to take an active role in helping to achieve collective goals.

Coe added “from our Member Federations to Local Organising Committees, to the media and photographers who cover our events, each of us plays a crucial part in achieving equity for women in athletics, sport, and every aspect of life.

"I invite everyone in our sport to do their part in standing up for gender equity whenever and wherever they see a need for improvement."

World Athletics has also pledged to increase the number of female coaches at World Championships to at least 20% by Tokyo 2025.

It has committed to aligning with the United Nations Women #DigitALL campaign, hosting another Gender Leadership Conference, organising 10 gender leadership courses, creating two gender leadership podcast series, and launching a pilot mentoring programme to help women attain leadership roles.

World Athletics pledges to:

• Increase the number of women on the World Athletics Council from eight members currently to a minimum of 10 members - including at least one female Vice President - at the Council elections in August 2023. Women will represent 40% of the World Athletics Council.

• Build a pipeline to increase to 50% the female representation across our four commissions for the 2023-2027 term, in order to provide more opportunities for female administrators with aspirations to run for its Council in 2027.

• Increase the number of female coaches at our World Championships to at least 20% by the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 by encouraging Member Federations to send more female coaches, and providing the learning pathway in countries where women are underrepresented at the coaching level. To help us achieve this, our Gender Leadership Taskforce is working with the IOC Female Coaching Leadership Programme - WISH - to enable eligible female coaches to be selected as part of their national team for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. A total of eight candidates from athletics have been selected for the program.

• Align ourselves with the UN Women #DigitALL campaign and harness the power of digital technology to develop more online courses and exams. To this end, we have set a target of 40% female participation in World Athletics e-learning courses in 2023.

• Host another Gender Leadership Conference at our World Athletics Championships in Budapest this year.

• Organise 10 Gender Leadership courses and activities that will be carried out by the Area Development Centres.

• Host two Gender Leadership podcast series focusing on Technical Officials and empowerment.

• Launch a women-focused spotlight section on our LinkedIn page in 2023.

• Launch a pilot Mentoring Program to help women attain leadership roles in all six continental areas.

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