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Leadership
Women and Girls

Change doesn’t happen without leadership and commitment. If you want your sport or sporting organisation to become more inclusive and welcoming, then it’s vital that you find leaders who are committed to making a positive culture change happen.

It’s important to remember that in addition to board and committee members, leaders can be anyone from your sport or community. They just need to be able to see possibilities and opportunities to open your sport up to more people.

Once you’ve found people who are passionate about making your sport more equitable, they may need some training and guidance to support their work to shift attitudes and practices to create more inclusive environments.

Successful organisations will identify, recruit, and promote opportunities for a diverse range of people to take on a leadership role across the sport.

 
 

Everyone benefits when more women and girls are given opportunities to lead. This is true within families, the workplace and communities across Australia.

It’s also true for sport.

Having women and girls in leadership positions – as players, coaches, umpires, officials and committee and board members — can make sports and sports organisations more dynamic. This is because females bring different experiences, skills, expertise, approaches, views and opinions.

Women and girls are passionate about their sport. They are willing to dedicate time and energy to make a difference. Sports organisations that harness this energy and dedication will reap the benefits.

Women and girls have already proved they can make a positive impact on and off the field. They help create well-rounded organisations and build a sense of welcoming that all sports and organisations should strive to achieve.

When females take on leadership positions — as players, coaches and officials — the community will appreciate that your sporting organisation provides genuine opportunities for all genders to follow their passion. It’s also good for business! Having more female leaders can help your sport attract more participants, including players, coaches, volunteers, officials and spectators.

If your sport wants to create positive change in this area, your leaders must be committed to supporting females in leadership positions.

The Change Our Game Recruitment and Retention Guidelines for Women in Sport and Recreation have been developed to assist community sport and recreation organisations increase the number of women and girls in leadership roles.

Click HERE to access the Women in Sport Recruitment and Retention insights

 

The Change Our Game Women in Sport and Recreation Communication and Marketing Guidelines have been developed in conjunction with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) to assist community sport and recreation organisations looking to develop inclusive communication and marketing practices.

Click HERE to access the Women in Sport Communication and Marketing insights

 

Statistics show that females remain under-represented in sport (both on and off the field), in media coverage and leadership positions. This is despite increasing participation rates of over recent years.

Yet sporting organisations can change this. Sport has the power to challenge and change social norms, attitudes and behaviour towards women, and to shape community values.

Improving gender equality within your sport can:

  • Help ensure your sport’s success into the future by increasing female membership and participation.
  • Provide more varied decision-making ideas, and increased innovation at the leadership level.
  • Provide opportunities to reach out and work with different businesses, sponsors and partners.
  • Help to build more respectful relationships and attitudes towards women and girls.

Putting gender equality on the agenda will deliver benefits that reach far beyond sport. For example, research shows a link between gender equality and building respectful relationships between men and women, and this can help prevent violence against women.

This video by Maroondah, Knox and Yarra Ranges councils highlights work local clubs are doing to promote gender equity:

Evaluation of the VicHealth Everyone Wins program found that State Sporting Association CEOs and board members understood that increasing opportunities for women and girls in sport is good for business.

The following information may assist your organisation in developing strong, positive leaders:

Every sporting organisation has its own culture. A culture is set by the way leaders — including those with roles on the committee and board, coaches, players and volunteers — behave, their attitudes, beliefs and ideas. A culture starts from the top and trickles down. Given this, your leaders must create a culture that encourages women and girls to be more involved. They need to share their ideas and beliefs about why sport needs female leaders, and then take practical steps to make it happen.

Creating a Culture Change 

There are different ways you can start to change or improve the culture within your sport to make it more inclusive of women and girls.

Improve awareness: Help your current leaders to learn more about what gender equality is and how to create a positive environment that fosters women’s participation and involvement.

Don’t worry – you don’t need to become an expert. There’s lots of tools, resources and training already available. For example, this VicHealth resource can be used as a checklist to build the capacity of your organisation to address gender equity in your organisation.

Support new leaders: It is important to ensure all new leaders are provided with an induction to enable them to support active leadership in gender equality. New leaders need to know that equal participation of women is at the core of your sport, and that they have a responsibility to contribute and drive action through their role as a leader.

Vicsport’s Good Governance Framework can help with development of induction processes, while the Are you on Board? campaign can help you put gender equality on the agenda.

Set up a women’s committee: Having a women’s committee will show that your sport has a strong commitment to gender equality. The committee will help lead initiatives and programs aimed at attracting more women and girls.

Here’s an example how leadership at the club committee level can result in great outcomes for women and girls:

The La Trobe University Hockey Club is a great example of a women’s leadership program at a club enabling greater participation by women and girls.

The SSAPP program evaluation found having a CEO and board committed to implementing a healthy and welcoming environment was the most often reported enabler for change.

Recritiment and Retention 

Your sport organisation needs to take an active role to identify and support women to take on leadership roles within your sport. Women and girls have many of the skills required to be leaders including a willingness to dedicate time and energy to make a difference; passion for their sport; and commitment to making improvements.

Some of the ways your sport can recruit women and girls to leadership positions include:

  • Survey women when they join or renew their membership to find out about their skills and if they’d be interested in taking on a leadership role.
  • Talk to women and girls who show an interest in or potential to be leaders about opportunities to take on leadership roles.
  • Use newsletters to encourage women and girls to get involved and list opportunities.
  • Use friendly language when you recruit for volunteers on and off the field.
  • Consider setting a target for women on club committees (e.g. a number or percentage that the club can work towards achieving).
  • Provide support for women and girls to attend training courses.

Vicsport’s Are you on Board? page provides useful resources, fact sheets and practical recommendations for individuals and for organisations wanting to improve gender diversity on boards.

Change Our Game is a commitment by the Victorian Government to improve equality in sport and active recreation. The Change Our Game website showcases best practice promotion and development of female sport in Victoria. This includes stories of change, role models, case studies and links to major media stories.

The Guidelines for the Recruitment and Retention of Women in Leadership Roles will assist you to evaluate your organisation’s culture and consider how it is gender inclusive and supportive of women in leadership roles.

Clubs should contact their relevant State Sporting Association to request support, and find out about any initiatives they may be developing to support women in leadership positions.

More Training and Support Information 

For more information on gender equality training and support, visit:

Our Watch

VicHealth

Victorian State Government - Gender Equality Strategy

Victorian State Government – Education and Training

The following information may assist your organisation in developing strong, positive leaders:

 

Within the sport sector, women and girls are underrepresented within both participation and leadership. As with other areas of life, women and girls significantly contribute to all areas of sport; as players, coaches, umpires, trainers and management committee members. To ensure sport organisations have access to the widest range of skills, experience and opinions, it is important that women and girls are well represented in leadership positions. There are a range of practical actions that sport organisations can undertake to increase representation of women and girls in leadership positions.

 
Mentoring 

Even when leadership roles are available, many women lack the confidence and self-belief to volunteer or apply for them. Your organisation must support, guide and help to educate females be confident to take on these roles.

Some things to consider when helping to guide women in new leadership roles include:

  • Make sure that mentors are both men and women because they offer different skills and perspectives.
  • Offer both informal and formal guidance. Formal guidance can appear daunting and imply time commitments. Catching up for a coffee or chatting over the phone can still be valuable for new leaders.
  • Support women to develop and join networks, so they can connect with and learn from other female leaders.
  • Bring together strong female leaders in your community to participate in events or networking sessions. This could be done alongside other sporting organisations, clubs, associations, local businesses, community organisations or your council e.g. a women’s breakfast event.
  • Contact your State Sport Association to find out about female specific networks or mentoring programs.

Refer to this setting up a mentoring program resource for more information.

Training and support 

Your sport can further support women and girls through training and development opportunities. There are a range of training and development programs offered through your State Sporting Association or league/association, Vicsport, government agencies and private providers.

Your sport can help women with their training and development by:

  • Working with them to identify training/skills needs.
  • Helping them to find relevant courses and training opportunities.
  • Subsidising training costs, helping with travel and accommodation (where required).
  • Providing financial or grant support (where possible).

 

Women leaders in sport grants

The Women Leaders in Sport (WLIS) program provides women with development opportunities to reach their leadership potential in the sports industry.

Insights for the Recruitment and Retention of Women in Leadership Roles

Use this resource to evaluate your organisation’s culture and consider how it is gender inclusive and supportive of women in leadership roles.

Women on Boards

Women on Boards is an independent organisation supporting women to take on non-executive director and other board level roles.