United Nations Recognizes the Importance of Sport for Sustainable Development (December 2018)12/10/2018 “SPORT AS AN ENABLER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”: THIS IS THE TITLE OF THE RESOLUTION ADOPTED TODAY BY THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN NEW YORK. IT ENCOURAGES MEMBER STATES AND RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS TO EMPHASISE AND ADVANCE THE USE OF SPORT AS A VEHICLE TO FOSTER SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ACKNOWLEDGING THE ROLE PLAYED BY SPORT AND THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT.
The Resolution was adopted on the occasion of the presentation of the biennial report of the UN Secretary General on sport for development and peace. The report calls upon Member States to further the work on sport for development and peace at all levels, promote policy coherence, and foster existing national policies and government-supported programmes that leverage sport as a tool for social or economic development, and it recognises the important role played by the IOC and sports organisations in this field. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in 2015, explicitly stressed the role of sport in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Now, with this Resolution, the UN is reiterating its call to Member States to leverage sport to achieve the SDGs, working in collaboration with all the interested stakeholders, including the sports community, civil society, international organisations and business companies. The Resolution points out the “invaluable contribution of the Olympic and Paralympic movements in establishing sport as a unique means for the promotion of peace and development, in particular through the ideal of the Olympic Truce, acknowledging the opportunities provided by past Olympic and Paralympic Games”. It affirms the contribution of sport in promoting tolerance and respect and empowering women and young people, individuals and communities. The document also places a spotlight on the impact sport has on health, education, social inclusion and the fight against corruption, encouraging governments’ efforts to focus on these topics. Just as importantly, the Resolution again supports “the independence and autonomy of sport as well as the mission of the International Olympic Committee in leading the Olympic Movement and of the International Paralympic Committee in leading the Paralympic Movement” in an effort to guarantee its universality. Read the full Resolution here. “We welcome the Resolution approved today by the United Nations, as it reaffirms the universality of sport and its unifying power to foster peace, education, gender equality and sustainable development at large,” IOC President Thomas Bach commented. “With its global reach, and its impact on communities and in particular on young people, sport can bring inclusion and empower people all over the world. Thanks to the UN, we now have a strong tool that encourages states and sports organisations to work together and develop concrete best practices. We want the Olympic Movement to be a driving force for a sustainable future for everyone.” The universality of sport means that the IOC and the Olympic Movement have a special responsibility to promote a sustainable future for our world. This is why sustainability is one of the three pillars of Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. The IOC has recently published its first Sustainability Report, which reports the progress made on the 18 objectives to be achieved by 2020 across all of the IOC’s spheres of responsibility: as the leader of the Olympic Movement, as the owner of the Olympic Games and as an organisation.
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How can women’s sports become mainstream?
While it’s never been a better time to be a female athlete, and participation in sport from women of all ages is on the rise, the one key area where we’re seriously lacking in is corporate investment. The most recent estimate of global corporate investment currently stands at 0.4% for women’s sports, with the majority of the rest of that figure going to the men. This needs to change, and to achieve this we - that includes government, the media, people in business and you, dear reader - have to be pulling in the right direction. We have to educate potential investors and tell the story of the benefits of women sport better. Here’s my topline take on how. 1. We need to identify and empower female athletes - for the right reasons The #WhatIf campaign by Women in Football, which launched last month, is a great start when it comes to empowering women’s sports for the right reasons. In a nutshell, businesses such as Betfair, Sky Sports and Barclays have pledged to invest in boosting the profile of women, working in the football industry. #WhatIf also highlights how we need initiatives like this across the whole gamut of women’s sports, and for reasons that go beyond mere tokenism. These businesses have invested in the Women in Football initiative based on individual achievements and performance, not just their gender. We need to start championing more sportswomen from a host of different sports because they excel at their game - like kickboxer Ruqsana Bequm and footballers like Sydney Leroux. Female sport stars can generate loyal and avid fanbases, so if we can boost their exposure, we can create a compelling desirable option for businesses to spend sponsorship money with them based on both the quality of their performance and their ability to generate engaged fans, beyond a token gesture. 2. We need to look beyond reach to attract more corporate investment Sponsorship plays a big part in funding grassroots engagement in sports, and without it, most sports will struggle. That 0.4% statistic is shocking to say the least, and it highlights the disparity between the growing interest surrounding sportswomen, and the lack of investment in championing them. The key issue is that businesses look at men’s and women’s sports in the same way. It’s about how many eyeballs - in stadia and on TV’s - they can reach with their sponsorship money. This is disingenuous - while the popularity of women’s sports is on the increase, it’s never going to match the same number of viewers as its male counterparts. This might be a bitter pill to swallow, but it shouldn’t matter that women’s sports attract fewer viewers. The point is that backing female sports goes beyond how many people see your logo on TV; it’s much more about who’s watching and engaging with the game and how they subsequently feel about the backing a particular business gives to that sport. Brands such as SSE, Vitality and Kia, who are already engaged with women’s games, have spoken about how they’re viewed in a positive light from audiences at games, which has turned into increased brand-love and affinity. 3. We need to sell women’s sport on the basis of engagement and participation One of the main reasons for the groundswell of interest around women’s sports lies in the fact that they’re viewed as being more inclusive. Men’s football and rugby games are a pleasure to watch. But fans can be too loud and/or rude for families, who don’t appreciate their kids learning a lexicon of swear words to tell the ref he’s made a bad decision. That’s partly why we’re seeing more families attend female sporting events. They’re slowly becoming the natural home for family audiences, and they may even succeed in bringing on board people who wouldn’t naturally watch sport. But not only do these games attract a different audience, and therefore, different brands backing them, female athletes have also been shown to appeal to fans in different ways. They’re seen as more likeable and appealing - for example, during this year’s Winter Olympics, a study found that Team USA’s sportswomen drove more social media engagements per athlete than the sportsmen. So while it’s never been a better time to be a female athlete, the commercial future can be much brighter. Women’s sports deserves to be in the mainstream. But it’s only through continued investment - which we can achieve if we market female sports in the right way, by focusing on the above three points - that we’ll keep growing the female game, and continue to raise the bar. THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) IS FORGING A BOLD NEW PATH IN ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY IN THE SPORTING ARENA AND BEYOND, AS THE IOC SESSION RECEIVED TODAY AN UPDATE FROM THE GENDER EQUALITY REVIEW PROJECT. FOLLOWING THE IOC EXECUTIVE BOARD APPROVAL OF 25 BOLD AND CHALLENGING RECOMMENDATIONS, THE IOC IS LEADING THE WAY IN RAISING AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF GENDER EQUALITY ON AND OFF THE FIELD OF PLAY.
From governance to human resources, to funding, sport and portrayal, the IOC is focusing on achieving tangible results to strengthen gender equality across the entire Olympic Movement through these action-oriented recommendations. The ultimate goal is to assist in removing barriers preventing women and girls from participating in sport at all levels. Chair of the IOC Gender Equality Review Project Marisol Casado said: “While recent years have seen improvements in gender equality in sport, we need more, and we need to do it quickly. These 25 recommendations aim to make substantial change and swiftly. The IOC is in a prime position to lead the way in bringing parity in gender equality, and today’s decision is a giant step forward toward achieving our objective.” There are 25 recommendations: 8 in areas in which the IOC has already made significant progress; 8 of which the IOC will lead with an implementation plan currently under development; and 9 of which are for International Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to lead. The next step is to publish the full report and develop an approach to undertake gender equality assessments within the broader Olympic Movement and beyond. The Gender Equality Working Group was led by Casado, an IOC Member and President of the International Triathlon Union. She was joined by IOC Members, NOCs, and Summer and Winter IF representatives who had been selected for the leadership of gender equality efforts within their own organisations. "THESE 25 RECOMMENDATIONS AIM TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE AND SWIFTLY. THE IOC IS IN A PRIME POSITION TO LEAD THE WAY IN BRINGING PARITY IN GENDER EQUALITY." - Marisol Casado One of the key actions is centered around avoiding portraying gender bias and stereotypes. A pilot programme is already underway at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, where a set of principles and guidelines for balanced portrayal of both genders has been shared with IOC stakeholders. They have been asked to “road test” these guidelines in their own activities during the Games, and to share feedback and comment on their experiences. Using this stakeholder input, the next step will be to build a robust set of gender portrayal guidelines that can be implemented widely. Closely collaborating with stakeholders in gathering and responding to their valued feedback will lead to a strengthened sense of ownership, and to enhanced implementation of the guidelines throughout the IOC and the wider Olympic Movement. The IOC’s strategic objective around gender equality calls for growing female participation at the Olympic Games to 50 per cent. This significant, yet achievable, increase will build upon recent advances in gender parity at the Olympic Games. For example, in London in 2012, there was a 44 per cent female participation rate. Further expanding female participation, the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 boasted the highest-ever number of women competitors, with female athletes comprising 45 per cent of total participants. Further demonstrating progress, on the final day of the Games, equal numbers of women’s and men’s events will take place. This groundbreaking achievement represents a major stride forward, as both the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games did not host any women’s events on their final days of competition. |
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