‘No one-size-fits-all approach’
While gender equity challenges are universal, it is important to note that to move things forward, there is no one-sizefits-all approach.
Speaking to Oceania participants at the ONOC Gender Equity and Diversity Master Class yesterday, ViceChair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Commission, HRH Prince Feisal Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan said, ‘In the development of strategies to address issues of gender equity there is no one-size-fits-all.
‘At ANOC [the Association of National Olympic Committees], we are trying a Continental approach that takes into consideration the history, culture, and demography of peoples.’
This is important toward bridging the gender equity gap on all five continents of the Olympic Movement, particularly in increasing the participation and growth of women in sport as athletes, administrators, technical officials, coaches, managers, and leaders.
It is importance in Oceania, especially in the Pacific Islands, where culture and history deeply influence women and girls’ participation in society.
HRH Prince Feisal also spoke about safe sport and safeguarding which are linked to women and girls in sport given harassment and abuse stemming from gender discrimination.
Safe Sport
HRH Prince Feisal said, ‘Another issue is Safe Sport – at the IOC we came up with the IOC Athlete Safeguarding Toolkit in 2017 and many IFs and NOCs have begun to look at it to understand the issues.
‘One of the issues that came out of that was nobody knew what a Safeguarding Officer and what were the qualifications so at the IOC we have now developed the Safeguarding Officer course.
‘In our first cohort, we had 54 who are now qualified Safeguarding Officers and in the current one, there are 94 people who have joined, and we are looking at scaling that up.
‘It is important that all NOCs have a qualified and trained Safeguarding Officer, and we are looking at potentially designing a Basic Safeguarding Course to be rolled out for National Federations.
‘We could come into a region and do a five-day programme that would be for NOCs but primarily for National Federations.’
HRH Prince Feisal said, ‘We have identified where we are, identified that we need to develop the human resources that are capable of actually implementing a safeguarding policy and trained to do it.
‘It is possible to do more damage than good, despite the best of intentions to people who have suffered or been victimised – and we are looking at working it out so that safe sport and safeguarding is understood and practised day to day until it becomes routine.
‘People know about it and want to talk about it – they recognise that policies and procedures that protect are not just for athletes, coaches, referees, but for everybody involved in the sporting community.’