Gender Equality in Sport

Executive Summary

Champions of Change Sport Group release the Pathway to Gender Equality in Sport: Progress Report 2019-2020.

This is the second annual progress report, it tracks improvement and provides transparency on Group-wide and organisation performance on gender equality across 26 measures under the five categories of: leadership, participation, pathways, investment and practical actions.

First launched in 2019, the Champions of Change Pathway to Gender Equality in Sport framework was the first collaboration to bring together leaders across the sport sector to monitor and report on a consistent set of measures to accelerate gender equality in sport, including pay equality.

The 2019–2020 Progress Report presents the shift from capturing meaningful baseline data for all organisations to developing year-on-year analysis ensuring that the reporting adds insight that can drive practical action.

“As a group we made the commitment to annual reporting gender equality measures within our organisations because we recognise there is more work to be done across the sector.

We started with the ambition to develop a consistent set of measures and indicators to gain insight and track progress. With the right measures in place across the sector we move more intentionally to accelerate progress on gender equality.

Craig Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia

The 2019–2020 report presents areas of progress across the organisations since first reported in FY 2018–19:

0%
of organisations have achieved gender balance of Board Directors (40–60%), up from 29.4%
0%
of total funded development pathway opportunities are for female athletes, up from 39.0%
0%
of organisations have achieved equity in prize money for elite athletes/teams, up from 43.8%
0%
of organisations have achieved equal access to resources for elite athletes, up from 87.5%

Nick Hockley, CEO of Cricket Australia, says now is more important than ever to maintain focus on gender equality in the sports sector.

“As leaders, our continued commitment to gender equality, reporting and transparency is critical to informing our strategies and developing comprehensive action plans to ensure we are progressing towards a gender equal future and minimise the adverse effects of the pandemic on gender equality.

The record-breaking crowd at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final in March 2020, was immediately followed by the significant impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic. We have seen what can be done. It is so important we keep pushing for equality in cricket and build on the momentum we established before the pandemic.

Nick Hockley, CEO of Cricket Australia

Reporting in the Pathway to Gender Equality in Sport , requires organisations to measure women’s representation in governance and leadership as well as participation and track talent pipelines into both individual organisations and sports.

Ameet Bains, CEO of Western Bulldogs, says the sport sector needs to continue to put in the work to develop and attract diverse talent to ensure growth and sustainability on and off the field.

“Recognising and developing the talent of all our athletes and all our people is critical to the success of any sport. When our group started reporting there were baseline gender equality issues like differences in access to facilities and travel policies that needed to be addressed to support men and women in high performance environments. We are pleased that there has been a significant improvement in these areas and we collectively continue to take the actions necessary to create the environments and pathways to attract more women into our teams, to retain the best talent and to grow and develop that talent into strong leaders.

Ameet Bains, CEO of Western Bulldogs

Elizabeth Broderick AO, Champions of Change Coalition Founder, and Sport Group Convenor says the sport industry has the ability to influence gender equality globally.

“Sport has unparalleled influence to shift cultures and mindsets across the world. Our Members have stepped up and committed to transparent annual reporting and review, so we can accelerate the pace of change and move our organisations towards equality – for the benefit of all women athletes, coaches, leaders, participants and fans.

Elizabeth Broderick AO, Champions of Change Coalition Founder

Members of the Champions of Change Sport Group will use ‘Pathway to pay equality in sport – Progress report 2019–20’ to inform and develop comprehensive action plans to accelerate progress on gender equality.

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