Opinion Piece: We Need More Men

On the eve of the UEFA Men’s Euro 2024 football, IWG Secretary General Lisa O’Keefe shares her views on why more men are needed in the fight for gender equality within sport. What can men do to help further equality in sport? What tools are at their disposal? And why should they get involved?

As we head into an amazing summer of sport and I notice more trailers, adverts and analysis of what’s to come, I am reminded how sport firmly sits at the heart of most cultures, reaching places and communities where other sectors simply can’t.

The ‘power of sport’ is a much-cited slogan, as are the endless benefits of sport and physical activity. From physical health, to mental well-being, to the development of key life skills – the evidence is everywhere, neatly summed up in Sport England’s Why Movement Matters which underpins their Uniting the Movement strategy.

The IWG exists to give all women and girls access to the benefits of sport which many men and boys so easily enjoy. But addressing the gender inequalities isn’t a problem for the women to tackle alone.

To succeed in embedding sport for all within our communities and enabling all women and girls to thrive in and through sport, we need men to actively be part of the solutions.

As principle six of IWG’s Brighton plus Helsinki Declaration – our international treaty to support gender equality in sport – points out, women remain under-represented in the leadership and decision making of all sport and sport related organisations.

Only 7% of  60 International sport organisations have female representation within the highest governance positions, such as Chairs and Presidents, according to ‘Women in Leadership’ research conducted in 2021 by Dr Jordan Matthews and Dr Lucy Piggot. They concluded that there continues to be a significant underrepresentation of women within decision-making positions in international sport organisations since it was first acknowledged by scholars and activists in the 1980s.

The benefits of more females in leadership roles are far-reaching, as outlined by the Council of Europe.

They state that improving diversity ‘produces a more multifaceted analysis of the issues at stake, and triggers greater effort from all that leads to improved decisions and performance.’

They also point out that, since women represent more than half of the population in Europe, gender equality at leadership level improves the chances for the organisation to ‘expand its “market” through better outreach of all groups and profiles of individuals, attracting more public interest and private investment and, in turn, potentially, more memberships.’

UK Sport has set itself the target of achieving gender parity for British postholders on International Federation Executive Committees or Councils. To achieve this, they commissioned research into the pathways that British international sports leaders have followed and from that have identified a set of recommendations to address the gender imbalance in international sport governance.

While the research can be used to shape the future pathways for women to secure leadership roles, this will take time. In the meantime, we need to recruit more male allies in these influential positions to actively support the establishment and maintenance of gender equality for the benefit of everyone.

La Trobe University’s Centre for Sport and Social Impact (Melbourne, Australia) pointed out that ‘Men, because of their power, influence and positions, have an important role as allies in levelling the playing field for women and girls.’ In their research summary, they provide practical tools to support men to be allies for gender equality in all aspects of community sport.

It’s not just at board or senior management level where we need the support of men in our mission to tackle gender inequality.

We need male allies closer to home, quite literally.

Our colleagues at Women in Sport recently published their research entitled: ‘Boys will be boys: Creating a new generation of male allies for girls in sport.’

Their research found boys as young as five have learnt that ‘sport is not for girls’, while acknowledging that these ‘boys, and the men that they will become, can be agents of change for girls and women in sport.’

In order to create these future male allies, the report recognises the need to tackle stereotypes from an early age, highlighting the importance of influential male role models, including dads, brothers, teachers and coaches, in young boys’ lives. It provides a fantastic resource for parents to help bust myths and break down the gender stereotyping which so often restricts the daughters’ experiences of sport.

Men in high profile positions advocating and speaking up for gender equality also play a part here.

Sue Anstiss MBE, CEO of Fearless Women, covers this so eloquently in her book, ‘Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport.’ She points to Andy Murray now infamously challenging sexist stereotypes during a media interview, and to David Beckham taking his daughter Harper to watch England Women play. She also gives the examples of Ugo Monye becoming a trustee of the Women’s Sport Trust, and of Ian Wright calling out the critics of female pundits.

The support of these male sporting legends has a significant impact in giving women’s sport attention and airtime, while also giving credibility to women’s sport amongst their respective fan bases.

And the same is true at all levels of sport. When I reflect on my career in sport (and particularly in rugby union), I think of the numerous men who stepped up to actively create opportunities for women and girls to take part. They were motivated by a desire to share the sport which they had been introduced to as young boys.

Gender equality within sport isn’t a problem which the women and girls need to fix themselves. It requires collaboration at every level – something which is at the heart of our strategy.

We at IWG would love to hear how male allies are helping within your sport and to share the stories from around the world to celebrate and help inspire others hoping to make similar changes. Please do contact us on info@iwgwomenandsport.org or via our social media platforms.

Meanwhile, I’ll be championing our men’s teams throughout Euro2024, as the benefits of sport should be enjoyed by everyone.