An equal playing field
A RECORD number of women’s teams are competing at this year’s Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship reflecting a global movement to achieve more equal participation of women and men in rugby.
The number of women’s teams has increased to 12, up from eight last year, while the amount of men’s teams has increased to 15, from 13 in 2018.
The teams will converge in Suva, Fiji, for the third consecutive year for the Oceania Rugby Sevens tournament from 7-9 November 2019 — being run over three days for the first time, and debuting the international women’s rugby team from Vanuatu.
Using rugby to promote gender equality and, longer term, to prevent violence against women is central to an agreement between Oceania Rugby and UN Women Fiji multi-country office (MCO), which is supported by the Pacific partnership to end violence against women and girls (Pacific Partnership) funded by the European Union and Australian Government with support from UN Women.
“Oceania Rugby is pleased to be partnering with UN Women through the Pacific Partnership, in committing to having more women and girls involved in Pacific rugby,” said Cathy Wong, Oceania Rugby representative.
“This year’s Oceania Rugby Sevens has a record number of women’s teams and we are excited about Vanuatu who will field an international women’s rugby team for the very first time in its sporting history,” Wong said.
“The championships continues to provide pathways for women in the region to play rugby, with Oceania Rugby and World Rugby experiencing a surge in women taking up the game as seen with Pacific nations fielding for the first time in sporting histories women’s international rugby teams including Solomon Islands in 2017, Nauru in 2018 and Vanuatu in 2019,”
“With the inclusion of the Oceania Deaf 7s Rugby, Oceania Rugby stands firm in its pledge to provide an equal playing field for all in Oceania.”
In addition to Vanuatu, women’s teams competing for the first time at the Oceania Rugby Sevens this year are Canada and Japan SDS in the international section of the draw. The draw for the women’s teams competing this year is divided into two tiers, given this year’s tournament will also feature the Olympic qualification, including:
■ Women’s Oceania Olympic section: Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu,
■ Women’s Oceania International side: Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada.Abigail Erikson, Ending Violence Against Women Programme Specialist for UN Women Fiji MCO, that works across 14 Pacific Island countries, said the Oceania Sevens is a great example of the commitment by Oceania Rugby to change and to encourage more equal participation of women and girls in all aspects of the sport’s administration and competitions.
“UN Women, as the global champion for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, is proud to work together with Oceania Rugby toward an equal playing field,” said Erikson said.
“By supporting more women and girls to play rugby and other sports at an equal level with men, we can encourage social change by demonstrating there is no limit to what women and girls can do.”
This is the third time UN Women is joining Oceania Rugby as its gender equality partner at Oceania Rugby Sevens, with joint activities to include a “women in rugby and the media forum”; a video promoting equal participation in rugby; social media to promote an #EqualPlayingField, and general event support to promote women in rugby.
The Oceania Rugby Sevens partnership is one of several initiatives support through the Oceania Rugby and UN Women Fiji MCO partnership.
UN Women’s support is through the 19.5 million euro ($F47.5)Pacific Partnership to end violence against women and Girls programme funded by the European Union 12.7m euro (F$30.6m) and Australian Government 6.2m euro ($F14.6m) with support from UN Women 0.6m euro ($F1.4m).
The program brings together governments, civil society organisations, communities and other partners to promote gender equality, prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG), and increase access to quality response services for survivors.
The program’s three outcome areas are jointly implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC) Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (Forum Secretariat) and UN Women Fiji MCO. OCEANIA RUGBY