2GAP Signs the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration

Gender and Governance Action Platform (2GAP) has become the latest signatory of IWG’s Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration.

Launched in 2020, 2GAP represents a collective of almost 90 professional networks from the public and private sectors who are pooling their energies to enable society to move more quickly towards equality, particularly in the field of governance.

2GAP is taking advantage of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to support women’s engagement in sports, with several different actions taken.

The March 2024 publication “Women, Sport and Governance” analyses the place of women in sports at national and international levels, in particular at governance levels. It also examines the role of sport in

women’s access to governance. The findings and the strong policy recommendations were delivered at 2GAP’s 2024 annual conference. The latter was complemented by a round-table discussion on “Sport, body and leadership”, featuring Rima Ayadi, French and European English boxing champion, Brigitte Henriques, former footballer and former president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, and Syanie Dalmat, sports journalist at L’Equipe.

2GAP has also created a ‘Sportswomen around the world’ map, in partnership with Global Women Entrepreneurs (Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises Mondiales). The map shows videos of women participating in sports from all over the world, highlighting the values of sport – this is also on display at the Cité Audacieuse in Paris.

By signing the Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration, 2GAP is reinforcing its commitment to supporting gender equality within sport. The signing took place in an online event on Monday 8th July, with Annamarie Phelps CBE OLY representing IWG, and Nathalie Pilhes, along with Nicola Ehlermann and Benedicte Bedaine-Renault, representing 2GAP.

Nathalie Pilhes, President of 2GAP, said: “Much like the IWG, 2GAP is a network of networks but with a focus on public and private networks for professional women. Our work primarily focuses on equality and representation within governance. This year’s attention to sports has brought to light the need for further support for gender equality at all levels, in particular women’s governance in sport. The signing of the Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration will be of value to our two organisations in working together for future advocacy.”

Annamarie Phelps CBE OLY, Chair of IWG said: “It is genuinely exciting to have the opportunity to work with 2GAP, who usually operate outside the world of sport. By adding 2GAP as a signatory to our Declaration, we will be able to bring a new perspective to making real, lasting change with new learnings and knowledge for our network to draw from."

“Equally, it has been fantastic to hear about 2GAP’s ambitions for sport policy within France, and we are looking forward to supporting their ambitions and maximising the impact which we can all make when it comes to creating the right environment for women to flourish, whether that’s in sport or business.”