‘CAN’T SEE, CAN’T BE’ ALSO APPLIES TO SPORTING BOARDROOMS
LONG PAST TIME WOMEN HAD GREATER SAY IN RUNNING OUR ORGANISATIONS
IT WAS a few weeks before Christmas and all through the House, a minister was stirring with all the panache of a mouse. It was the second week of December in 2016 when Patrick O’Donovan, then a junior minister in the Department of Sport, gave an interview on national radio and announced that he would bring proposals forward in the New Year, aimed at punishing sporting organisations that failed to have at least 30% of their board positions filled by women.
‘Crucially, young Irish women need role models on and off the field,’ he told Morning Ireland.
‘I want to provide an opportunity to break that glass ceiling. You have the situation where we want to see a third of any senior committee or governing body made up of women over a two-tothree year period.’
Any body that failed to do so would see its State funding cut.
The lack of specifics in O’Donovan’s plan was betrayed early on by that mention of a ‘two-to-three year period’. So which was it, two or three?
We never found out, because it transpired that the senior minister in the Department, the shy and retiring Shane Ross, knew nothing of O’Donovan’s plan, and was said to be furious about it.
In fact, within days of O’Donovan’s interview, ‘sources’ were telling informed journalists that the relationship between O’Donovan and Ross was ‘toxic’, and would require then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny to intervene.
This was after Ross held a meeting with a broad spectrum of national governing bodies (NGBs) and organisations to discuss some of the issues around women in sport. Around 50 bodies were represented – but O’Donovan was not invited.
After that gathering, one line from Ross ended his junior’s plan.
‘There was a general consensus at the meeting that punitive measures would not assist us in achieving this goal,’ he said. Almost five years on, a more informed version of O’Donovan’s plan is taking shape.
As part of a Sports Action Plan for 2021-2023 launched this week alongside Sport Ireland’s John Treacy, Jack Chambers, one of O’Donovan’s successors in the Department, spoke at length about one point in a detailed proposal that has over 40 targets.
It is section 6.1, which states: ‘In addition to the development of equality action plans, NGBs will be asked to achieve, by end 2023, the Government’s target for State Boards of a minimum of 40% representation of each gender in the membership of their Boards.
‘Support will be provided for dedicated leadership training programmes for women including governance-related and technical training (coaching, refereeing and team management). ‘Sport Ireland will monitor NGB progress against
targets and report annually on whether additional measures, such as
Plan launch: Jack Chambers (left) and John Treacy gender quotas, are warranted.’ The Action Plan covers a vast area in its ambition, from the elite end – and the implementation of a high performance strategy to run for the next decade up until 2032 – to removing barriers to participation and supporting ways of improving diversity. As well as a winter-sports initiative, and ways of encouraging people to return to sport after the devastating convulsions of the past two years. But quotas have a proven capacity to stir controversy, as O’Donovan discovered five years ago. As part of the fall-out, following the vaporisation of his plan by Ross, the sense behind what he proposed got lost. It is absurd, after all, that at a time of unprecedented efforts to increase participation rates among women in sport, and when groundbreaking initiatives such as the FAI giving the same amount in match fees to its women’s and men’s senior international teams, the majority of sports are still governed by boards which largely comprise men. Sport Ireland monitors the figures on this, and in an update a year ago, it found that 32 bodies had at least 30% female representation, but 34 had a figure less than that.
Among this latter group, the IRFU were notable with just 8% of its board constituting female representation, while the FAI were at 25%, and the GAA at 11% (the latter case is complicated by the fact that camogie and ladies football are not yet part of the overall GAA structure and are, in fact, governed by their own specific organisations).
The IRFU was, at the time of the report, one of 12 governing bodies that had less than 10% of its board membership filled by women.
One of the boldest aspects of this week’s Action Plan was the figure of 40%.
Up to now, the target has been 30% of board representation composed of women, which was in line with the Government’s National Sports Policy.
The target has now shifted, but Chambers was unequivocal in his ambition.
‘That’s why equality in sport is so important,’ he said.
‘If you go down to any local grassroots club now, you are seeing huge numbers of women and girls participating at club level.
‘It’s important we see that reflected at a leadership level when it comes to all sporting organisations. That’s why there will be this new target and deadline of the end of 2023, of 40% women on the boards of sporting organisations.
‘We have seen progress from some in recent years, but we have a number who have a long way to go and that’s why they have two years now to get their act together and to ensure that they hit 40%.
‘I think people in broader society expect progress in this area, and to ensure that the leadership of these organisations, and the boards of these organisations, reflect broader society,’ he added.
He has talked about carrot and stick in relation to this ambition, but the stick is what intrigues.
‘If they (fail to reach) the target by the end of 2023, there will be financial consequences for the organisations, and we are putting them on notice around that,’ the junior minister said.
‘The State plays a hugely important role when it comes to the provision of sport and supporting sporting organisations, and that’s why we’ll have annual progress reports and regular progress reports from Sport Ireland, and structured engagement, and funding to support leadership and training, so we enable more women to step up to the plate and be on boards.’
He did not explain what the penalties are, and one suspects that at this juncture, the Government are counting on threats being enough to shake sporting bodies into action.
They have two years to address this issue, and those reluctant to do so might be minded to consider how much the women in sport debate has shifted in the past couple of years alone.
Irish sportswomen have had another tremendous year, with Rachael Blackmore, Kellie Harrington, the rowers, and the women’s soccer team competing for headlines with more established men’s sides.
Change is happening on the field, in the water, in gyms and in the boxing ring.
Why shouldn’t it come in the boardrooms, too?
“A bold part of the plan is the figure of 40%”