Womensport and Recreation Association releases 10-point 'game plan' for next Federal Government to do for women in sport

The Australian Womensport and Recreation Association (AWRA) has released a 10-point 'game plan' for political parties to commit to if elected.

The 10 points are:

1. The development of a cohesive national sport policy for women, covering grass-roots to elite participation. This would be part of a cohesive national sports policy as recommended in the 2009 Crawford Review of Australian Sport.
2. That in light of the pressure on available sporting facilities, state and territory education authorities should work with sporting clubs and organisations, and local communities, to improve cooperation and access to facilities for children's sporting activities, particularly schools.
3. Further to this AWRA would like the Commonwealth to encourage state and territory governments, and especially local government, to address the lack of women's facilities such as change rooms at sporting venues.
4. To fund Physical Education specialists in primary schools as part of the national school curriculum.
5. That appropriate organisations with an interest in women in sport and recreation be funded by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) to provide skills training in the areas of leadership, communication and media skills and successful team building.
[Note: AWRA has been successful in seeking funding from the Office for Women (Federal Department for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) to deliver a national leadership training program in 2008/09 and a media training program in 2009-2010. However, more needs to be in both these areas, in capital cities and more particularly rural and regional Australia.]
6. That the ASC continue to provide annual (at least) opportunities for women sport leaders to attend workshops and forums to develop techniques for successful networking.
7. That the ASC Sport Leadership Grants for Women be continued and that the Commonwealth increase funding for this scheme. AWRA recommends that the funding be increased to $3 million (now only $400,000 when in 2010/11 over $2.7 million was asked for by individuals and organisations in the latest round of applications).
8. That the Australian Government provide financial support, to be administered by the ASC, for initiatives that provide specific opportunities for greater ongoing media coverage of women's sport. It is recommended in the 2006 Senate Report on Womenâs Sport and Recreation in Australia that this is funded by up to $3 million per annum, and be reviewed after approximately three years.
9. The 2009 media research as reported in Towards a Level Playing Field: sport and gender in Australian media should be replicated every two years and that funding is made available to act on the findings. Increased resources and funding is required to bring about change with traditional media and to meet the demand for training in new social media (such as twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc).
10. AWRA supports the Australian Centre for Leadership for Women (CLW) position and agrees that if there continues to be an under-representation of women on boards and in senior executive roles, from 2013, mandatory gender quotas of 40% for boards must be introduced on ASX publicly listed companies plus the Boards of national sporting organisations with penalties to be applied for failing to meet quotas within a specified period of time. Details of gender representation on sporting organisation Boards should be reported annually.

For more information on The Game Plan - 10 things to do for women in sport if elected contact AWRA President Janice Crosswhite on 03 9719 7553.

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