Today, the Women's Sport Collective is proud to be supporting the launch of The Equal Sport Project, joining organisations from across the sector in a shared commitment to making the UK the world's leading nation for women and girls in sport.
As part of the project, organisations have been asked to make specific pledges about the action they will take to address inequalities across sport.
Our pledge is to undertake new research across our global community of 17,600 women working in sport to better understand what would help more women join sports boards and thrive in their roles.
We know that having more women on sports boards is important, but we also need to ensure that they also have the opportunity to contribute, influence decisions and flourish once they're there.
We want to explore women's ambitions to take on board positions, the barriers that might prevent them from doing so, their experiences of serving on boards and the support they need to be effective in those roles. We’ll also be considering how boards recruit, how they operate, whose voices are heard and whether women feel they genuinely belong.
Through the Women's Sport Collective, we have access to an extraordinary community of women working at all levels and across all areas of sport. We want to use that reach to understand their perspectives and experiences, rather than making assumptions about what women want or need.
We'll share the findings with the wider sports sector in the hope that they can inform more inclusive approaches to board recruitment, governance and leadership.
I'm delighted that the Women's Sport Collective can contribute to this important initiative and look forward to working alongside others who are committed to creating a more equal sporting landscape.
Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing The Equal Sport Project together. It's wonderful to see so many organisations making specific commitments to progress.