Design training, mentorships, scholarships, and job-shadowing programmes for women working in the organisation to tackle succession planning for decision-making and leadership roles, accordingly, these should provide women with the skills required to be confident candidates for election/nomination.
The NOC of France launched the “En route pour la Mixite 2024” initiatives; accordingly, an action plan was put in place to achieve the goal of parity and diversity. Notably, all initiatives are based on the relevance of boosting mentorship and networks, as well as the sharing of experiences:
• Club de la mixité was created to measure, promote and help in increasing gender equality in the federations;
• Club des 300 is designed to assist women in high ranks of the sports movement to achieve their goals while benefitting from the network;
• Dirigeantes programme which includes the testimony and journey of women who reached high ranking positions.
Currently, the aforementioned initiatives are showcasing progress whilst these remain ongoing intending to further reach sports stakeholders (i.e. federations, clubs…).
Provide awareness training and workshops for management and leadership roles in the organisation - including both women and men - on the importance of respecting gender equality, diversity and inclusive leadership, identifying obstacles faced by women concerning decision-making and leadership, as well as overcoming unconscious bias (among other key topics). Ultimately, these trainings/workshops should be included in mandatory leadership courses for all those involved in the organisation, including employed, elected and nominated members.
IBU has organised a training course focusing on unconscious bias to further raise awareness of what constitutes bias; accordingly, the relevance to be aware and avoid replicating implicit prejudice and stereotypes in the portrayal of women and men in all aspects related to the sport, its leadership and governance.
Ensure equal gender representation among mentors and trainers of these training, mentorship and job-shadowing programmes to promote peer-to-peer networking and knowledge/experience sharing between genders, as well as among women only.
World Sailing launched The Magenta Project Mentoring Programme to bring mentoring into sailing at the top level by connecting aspiring female sailors with mentors who can help them map out their sporting development pathway, motivate them to succeed at the highest level possible, and address any issues that might stand in the way of their advancement or potential, or even cause them to quit the sport early. Many mentees have had the chance to sail aboard high-performance boats with their well-known mentors. Some have had the chance to work beside them ashore. The competition between a mentor and mentee in a race to the Azores where the mentee triumphed was a success highlight.
Provide ad-hoc training for those involved in the delivery of the activity (i.e. recruiters, advertisers, mentors/trainers...) to review the verbal/body communication and implicit biases at all stages (i.e. advertisement/recruitment language, mode of advertisement/training delivery…).
Create policies offering staff and board members of both genders the opportunity to undertake continuous professional development training to update/enhance their knowledge on key transversal topics related to gender equality.
Design/implement career transition programmes for women involved in the organisation as athletes, coaches, referees and officials to steadily be more involved in the leadership and governance of the organisation.
Entrench gender equality into policies and statutes to encourage member organisations to strengthen/adhere to the set targets for gender equality in leadership and governance (i.e. present/adopt a proposal to encourage member organisations to attend key decision-making events such as General Assembly/Annual meetings-seminars with representatives – and ensure gender balance when sending more than one representative).
The Swedish Sport Confederation changed its statute which meant that boards in (national) specialist sports federations should have a gender balance in which no gender is represented by less than 40 per cent. In the nomination committees, the gender balance must be 50-50. The charter entered into force in 2021. If the specialist sports federations do not reach the targets established by the statute in 2021, it will be considered a contravention of the statute’s regulations. The maximum penalty for a contravention is exclusion from the Swedish Sports Confederation.
Offer incentives to member organisations to implement gender equality strategies/policies and related women’s pathways, as well as to reach the set targets in this field (i.e. Gender awards/label) and encourage accountability by setting sanctions (i.e. financial) for cases of non-compliance.
The NOC of Türkiye provides financial assistance to National Federations in organising technical development courses and certificate programmes for coaches, referees, physicians, physiotherapists, nutritionists, and technical officials on the condition that either equal or a significant number of female participants in the field are taking part.
Design training, mentorship programmes, roundtable discussions and networking events on gender equality to be attended by representatives of the member organisations – each member should ensure gender balance among its representatives.
In 2017-2018, the NOC of Finland implemented the “Leads Like a Woman” programme which consisted of five two-day sessions with tasks between sessions and mentoring. The education offered practical tools and techniques; hence, participants were educated on themes related to the Olympic values of equality and respect, while at the same time, the tasks and the mentoring workshops benefited trainees too. The initiative’s evaluation showed that a number of participants stood for an election to upper-level positions in their sports organisations, even during the education process, with many of them ultimately reaching noticeable promotions.
Design/implement career transition programmes for women involved in the organisation as athletes, coaches, referees and officials to steadily be more involved in the leadership and governance of the organisation.
Assess perceived inclusion and acceptance in the organisation through one-to-one interviews and/or anonymous questionnaires while maintaining an intersectional perspective.
Collect data through anonymous surveys on the awareness and satisfaction on the available educational opportunities and pathways.
Compare the number of women who take part in the training programmes, with the number of women who attain leadership positions afterward.
Compare the number of women who take part in the training programmes as mentors/mentees.
