Victorian Government initiative to help more women and girls earn sport leadership roles

The Victorian Government’s longstanding commitment to help more women and girls earn sport leadership roles has seen the recent launch of its Change Our Game campaign.

Launching a range of resources as part of the campaign, including a document - Guidelines for the recruitment and retention of women in leadership roles: A Toolkit for Victorian Sport - Victorian Minister for Sport John Eren earlier this month advised how the initiative is about encouraging the sector to challenge gender stereotypes and encourage more women and girls to reach their full potential.

Minister Eren explained “our reforms follow the Women and Girls in Sport and Recreation Inquiry – chaired by Richmond (FC) President Peggy O’Neal – which made a number of recommendations to help women get the opportunities they deserve in what can be male-dominated environments.

“The Victorian Government has invested $1 million to implement and fast track the recommendations, because increasing opportunities for women and girls changes their lives for the better.

“We’ve also established a $10 million fund for women’s change rooms at grassroots clubs all over Victoria.

“On the field, participation rates are soaring – but women are still under represented on boards, in administration roles and other leadership positions. We’re changing that, because we put people first.”

The introduction to Guidelines for the recruitment and retention of women in leadership roles: A Toolkit for Victorian Sport, states “in Victoria, women and girls are currently underrepresented in the active recreation and sports sector, in terms of both participation and leadership.

“In 2016, 22 of the 99 state sport and recreation organisations that are funded through Sport and Recreation Victoria, including state sporting associations, regional sports assemblies and other state sport and recreation bodies, have a female chief executive officer.

“For this to change, we need more women as leaders in the sector, to give women more influence about opportunities for girls and women.

“This toolkit has been developed to assist organisations in the sports and active recreation sector to increase the number of women in leadership roles in their organisation, at board and senior management level.”

At the end of last year a Victorian Government appointed Taskforce recommended that sporting associations and peak bodies in the State should fill at least 40% of their board positions with women or miss out on funding.

Affirming the Victorian Government’s commitment to this, Minister Eren added “we’ll work with state sporting associations to meet the target of 40% of women in board positions in three years’ time. Many sporting boardrooms lack a balance of skills and ideas – and that’s because they lack diversity.

“We’ve also appointed key state sporting association chief executives as Ambassadors of Change. They’ll use their positions and experience to empower more women and girls to secure the sport leadership roles they deserve.”

The campaign features a new toolkit for sports organisations, complete with recruitment guidelines to help attract more women and girls to sports leadership roles.

Click here to view the Change our Game: Guidelines for the recruitment and retention of women in leadership roles: A Toolkit for Victorian Sport

Click here to access other Change our Game resources.

Images; Women sport executives at the MCG (top), netball participants (middle) and the Change our Game (logo).

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