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IWG Women and Sport and TAFISA (The Association for International Sport for All) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise their commitment to closer collaboration. The MoU follows a productive meeting held at TAFISA’s headquarters in Frankfurt last year, where a robust discussion around re-starting the collaboration between the two organisations was held. The agreement will see a stronger alliance between IWG and TAFISA, helping to create a stronger voice

IWG has today published the Year Two Annual Report, which details the work of the IWG Secretariat during its second year in the UK. Key highlights from the report Connections During the 2023-2024 period, we maintained and built upon our strong relationships with key stakeholders from around the world to enhance IWG’s global reach. As part of IWG’s 30th Anniversary celebrations, we launched the monthly IWG Newsletter and IWG Webinar Series while we continued to grow our

Last month, Secretary General Lisa O’Keefe MBE and Chair Annamarie Phelps CBE OLY embarked on a significant visit to the Middle East, strengthening ties and learning from initiatives aimed at advancing opportunities for women and girls in sport. Their journey took them across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, where they engaged with key stakeholders, shared best practices, and explored opportunities to expand IWG’s ‘network of networks.’ Reflecting

Professor Elizabeth Pike PhD, a leading expert in sport and gender from t he University of Hertfordshire (Great Britain), is the Global Winner of the 2024 International Olympic Committee (IOC) Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (GEDI) Champions Award. On the eve of International Women’s Day, the IOC is celebrating Pike, alongside five continental winners who are all breaking barriers in #SportForAllWomenAndGirls. A Professor in Sport, Health and Exercise, Pike has de

Luxembourg played host to two high-profile events focussed on advancing gender equality in sport across Europe last week, with the European Summit on Gender Equality and Diversity in Sport taking place on 12 February, ahead of the closing event of the ‘All In Plus’ EU-CoE joint project on 13 February. Organised by the European Sports NGO Equality Within Sport (ENGSO EWS) Committee, the second edition of the European Summit on Gender Equality and Diversity once again brought

Dr Anita White, founder of the IWG, has today been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours List.Anita will be honoured with a CBE in recognition of her services to women and to sport throughout her career, which has spanned over 40 years. Beginning her career as an athlete, Anita won 42 caps representing England at hockey, leading the team to world cup victory in 1975. A lack of recognition for the women’s team’s achievements encouraged Anita to be amongst a group of women wh

Photo Credit: Kate Green for Getty Images The International Working Group (IWG) on Women and Sport last night commemorated its Pearl Anniversary with a celebration at the Guildhall in London, UK, generously hosted by the City of London Corporation. Themed on ‘Visibility and Portrayal of Women and Girls in Sport’, Jacqueline Bourke, Senior Director of Creative from Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace, delivered the keynote Photo Credit: Kat

Sunday 3 November saw the IWG Secretariat and Global Executive meet at the prestigious Juntendo University in Tokyo, Japan, for the Annual General Meeting 2024 and Strategic Planning Session. Generously hosted by Dr Etsuko Ogasawara , IWG’s regional representative for Asia, the AGM was an opportunity for the IWG Secretariat to give a review of the 2023-24 period to the General Executive, while also hearing back from them about the activities from their regions or networks o

Annamarie Phelps CBE OLY, Chair of the IWG UK Secretariat, this week attended the 18th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport in Porto, Portugal, delivering the keynote presentation for the focus session on leadership through gender equality in sport: effective strategies and future direction. The conference, organised by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) in co-operation with the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Portuguese Inst

Following a period of review and improvements, IWG is delighted to relaunch the IWG Insight Hub which is designed to empower and advance gender equity and equality for women and girls in sport and physical activity worldwide. The IWG Insight Hub is home to a world-leading collection of research, case studies and toolkits which the IWG’s network has contributed to, providing global insights across the key themes of: Data and Research Methodologies Safeguarding Resources and

The IWG is recruiting for members to join their Summit Organising Committee to help plan and deliver the IWG Global Summit which is taking place in Birmingham, UK, from 9-11 July 2026. The Organising Committee members will be working with the small IWG Secretariat, including an Event Producer, and will lead the design and delivery of specific elements of the scope to support the IWG Team. Chaired by Clare Barrell, Director International Relations and Member Services at Worl

IWG is pleased to welcome Esther Britten MBE to the UK Steering Committee , which serves to support the implementation of the IWG Strategic Plan 2022-2026 while the Secretariat operates from the UK. In her position as the Head of Major Events at UK Sport, Esther has played a key role in the bidding and staging of major international sporting events hosted in the UK over the past decade and, combined with her experience as a former hockey player and umpire, she has also been i

IWG’s Secretary General, Lisa O’Keefe MBE, delivered one of the keynote speeches at the recent 2024 South African Women and Sport Foundation (SAWASF) National Advocacy Conference, which took place in Pretoria, South Africa on 31st August. Joining the conference remotely, Lisa delivered her keynote plenary session on the topic of “The need to identify Change Champions to lead the acceleration of progress in Women and Sport”. The presentation drew on evidence from members of t

UPDATE: The deadline for the second year of the Women’s Sport Investment Accelerator Programme, from the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, has been extended. The new deadline is 11.45pm on Friday 6th September. Find out more and apply via the Department for Business and Trade website. The FA Women’s Super League, England Rugby, England Netball, England and Wales Cricket Board and Volleyball England were among the first participants in the new Women’s Sport Investment

In the week building up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the IWG attended UNESCO’s ‘Change The Game’ Forum at their headquarters in Paris. The two-day event brought together over 500 policy makers and senior sports leaders from around the world and provided insightful discussions around the transformative power of sport for sustainable development. The Partners’ Forum, held on day one of the event, advocated for and illustrated the social impacts of investments in sport polic

Wednesday 31st July saw the IWG and the British Embassy Paris host a successful ‘Women In Sport’ event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in conjunction with UK Sport. Over 150 guests were welcomed into the British Ambassador’s Residence, including senior leaders from International Federations and National Governing Bodies, Sports Ministers, athletes and media. Dame Menna Rawlings, His Majesty’s Ambassador to France, opened proceedings by welcoming the guests, highlighting

IWG has today opened the bid process to host the IWG Secretariat and Global Summit 2026-2030 and is inviting interested applicants to submit their Expressions of Interest. Download the IWG Women and Sport Bid Pack To ensure the IWG retains a global perspective and generates visibility and energy for its vision and mission around the world, the Secretariat moves country every four years. Since its inception in the UK back in 1994, the IWG Secretariat and Global Summit has been

On Thursday 18 July, the IWG attended the latest “ASEAN-Japan Actions on Sports: Gender Equality” progress meeting to hear the latest updates from the project. Commissioned by the Japan Sports Agency, led by the International Research Center for Sport and Gender Equality Seijo University (SGE) and in consultation with the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), Japan is bringing together 10 of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to promote gender equality through sports. Foc

IWG was honoured to be invited by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), a signatory of the Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration , to take part in their ‘Finding The Leader Within You’ panel discussion during the first week of the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. UK Steering Group member Clare Barrell represented the IWG on the panel, which also included Sandi Procter, President of the Lawn Tennis Association, and Susie Kenny-Smith, a leadership consult

IWG is delighted to announce the appointment of Tarja Krum to the Global Executive , the 12-strong international board which governs the IWG. Tarja, who will take over the European representative role from Sallie Barker, is the Sustainability Manager at ‘Finlands Svenska Idrott’ (the Swedish Sports Federation in Finland), where she leads initiatives focused on equality, safe sports, good governance, the environment and anti-doping. Last month, Tarja was also elected as the Ch