On September 25^th, ENGSO organised a seminar on the ever-relevant subject of gender equality in sport, in collaboration with European Lotteries and Panathlon International.

Sport and Citizenship has always been committed to women and sport, and is hence always delighted to attend initiatives evolving around gender equality and evidenced-based solutions.

The core presentation was delivered by Dr Jenny Svender (Swedish Sports Confederation) who reviewed the multiple layers of gender inequality in sport, from grassroots participation, prejudices to governing and management positions. In doing so, she was able to demonstrate how all spheres on the sport world are interwoven and thus affect one another, which is why it is essential to tackle gender stereotypes and inequalities at all levels. By walking us through her own and the latest research on gender and sport, Dr Svender emphasised crucial elements to bring about change- such as concentrating on changing sports’ structural and institutional cultures, and the need to go beyond trophy positions by inaugurating a minimum of 35% of female presence on Boards and teams (i.e. “critical mass”).

Moving into more concrete perspectives, a panel discussion including Paola Ottonello (Policy Officer gender equality and good governance in sport- European Commission), Bashir Abdi (European silver medallist for long distance running & co-founder of the Belgian non-profit SportAround) and Eline Berings (Hurdle Gold medallist at the indoor European championships) focused on daily experiencing and witnessing of gender prejudices in sport.

Finally, Pr Yves Vanden Auweele (KU Leuven) presented and explained his concept of Integrity Management as a complementary approach to sport’s ethical issues.