Gender equality in sports has been a long-term challenge and continues to remain so. Throughout history, men have dominated the sporting world and have unfairly influenced how sport is perceived and promoted. This has alienated the other genders who want to participate, and it is crucial that this narrative change.
Gender equity in and through Sport+ can bring tremendous – yet often untapped – empowerment, health and overall well-being benefits to women and girls. This includes reducing inequalities across a wide range of identity factors including, but not limited to: socio-economic status, citizenship, ethnicity, gender, ability and sexual orientation.
Despite the challenges, there have been some significant advances in this arena. For example, a growing number of countries now pay their male and female athletes equally, and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup football championship was watched by more than 365 million people. The #MeToo movement and other social movements have also raised awareness of the importance of promoting gender equality in sport, resulting in a rise in support for this issue (see Figure 1).
However, much remains to be done. Educating people on the importance of GE in sport, ensuring that female teams receive equal sponsorship funding and encouraging women to become leaders within sport are all vital. In addition, addressing inequalities across intersecting identities is essential as it has been found that women who experience multiple and unique identity factors are even more vulnerable to discrimination in sport.