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More women needed in UK sports governing bodies

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Penny Hopkins
WVoN co-editor

A new report commisioned by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) has found that one in five of the top positions on sports boards in the UK are now held by women.

The figures, issued in a press release on International Women’s Day, show that 22% of posts are taken by women, an improvement on 20% in 2010.  The number of boards without any women at all has fallen from 10 to six.

However this good news is tempered by the fact that there has been a drop in the number of women in the top jobs.  Only seven of the 47 governing bodies have a female chair.  Only ten have a woman as CEO.

It is a long-running issue for the WSFF.  The organisation argues that only by appointing women to boards at a senior level can the bodies engage with women and encourage interest in grass-roots participation.  This, in turn, will lead to more success at the elite level.

Since the publication of the first WSFF “Trophy Women?” report in 2009, the UK has seen a significant increase in the number of women in leadership roles.

In January 2012, Heather Rabbatts became the most high profile appointment when she became the first female non-executive director at the Football Association (FA).

Women make up 54% of the London Organising Committe for the Olympic Games.

The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation CEO, Sue Tibballs, commented on the findings:

“The under-representation of women not only harms sport’s delivery and profile, but means sport is missing out on the massive potential  for growth from the women’s market.  These figures give us hope that governing bodies are starting to recognise the benefits of having more women involved.”

Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson, said:

“Today’s figures from WSFF are a small step in the right direction but indicate that we still have more to do to ensure all [national governing bodies] NGBs have modern, effective governance structures…

“Having a gender balance on boards can help sports focus on increasing female participation, which in many cases, lag behind men.”

WSFF is calling for governing bodies to be offered support in increasing the diversity of their boards and help in seeking out the best women to take on senior roles.

  1. wheeler says:

    LOCOG might be 54% women but i wonder what they’re doing – cos 18 out of 19 of its board are men, and that nominal woman is a HRH! accroding to london2012 website….

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