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Commission on the Future of Women's Sport

Commission to address crisis in women’s sport announced

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson to chair new independent sports body

 

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Andy Burnham, MP,  announced the Commission on the Future of Women’s Sport on 27 July, a new, independent body set up to address the current crisis in women’s sport.  Including Dame Kelly Holmes, Ed Smith, Heather Rabbatts and chaired by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, the Commission shall be made up of senior figures from sport, politics, business, academia and media to tackle the issues outlined within the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation’s (WSFF) annual Women in Sport Audit.

 

Published on 22 July, the Audit identifies three key areas of inequality in sport on which the Commission will focus, when it is formally launched this autumn.

 

·         Leadership: only four out of the leading 35 British National Governing Bodies (NGB) of sport have a female chief executive, while women make up just 25% of all NGB Board members and 25% of the highest qualified elite and development coaches.  Five NGBs that represent women’s sport have no female Board members at all

·         Profile:  there is more than 50 times as much coverage in the media for men’s sport than there is for women’s, with just two per cent of articles and one per cent of images devoted to elite female athletes and women’s sport

·         Investment: from both the public and private purse, women’s sport receives significantly less funding than men’s. The fact that more men play sport means that they receive the benefit of more public funding and in football, the salary alone of the England team coach, Fabio Cappello, is three times larger than the £2million total annual budget for the entire England international women’s team.

 

At a time when obesity costs the UK £8.2bn per annum and with London 2012 aiming to deliver the legacy of a fitter, healthier nation, the WSFF research shows that more than 80% of women don’t do enough sport or exercise to benefit their health, with figures set to decline further over the next ten years without action.  Young women are half as active as young men, with less than three per cent playing competitive team sports.  Football, the most popular team sport for both women and men, is played by 13% of men compared to just one per cent of women.

 

WSFF Chief Executive, Sue Tibballs, who recommended the creation of the Commission, said: “As 51% of the population, women represent the largest potential opportunity for sport in the UK, as well as its greatest reputational risk. Too many (women) feel that its male domination has left it out of touch with an otherwise increasingly equal society.

 

“Although positive steps are being taken - Sport England has stipulated that NGBs failing to make specific provision for women’s sport will see funding switched to those that do - there’s still much to be done in creating an equal playing field. Sport should welcome the Commission with open arms.” 

 

Paralympian gold medallist and Commission chair, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE, said: “Having risen through the structures of British sport, and performed at the highest level, I have seen for myself many of the inequalities that women and girls have to put up with in this country. It is therefore a real honour to chair the body that will aim to tackle these inequalities.  The Commission is exactly what winning 2012 was all about – providing the kind of inspiration and leadership to get more women and girls playing and competing in sport at every level.”

Click below to read the Audit and Strategy