CTT ducks call for prize money equality
Governing body promises to appoint a director to look into gender equality, reports Vern Pitt
Cycling Time Trials refused to make prize money for men and women equal at its board meeting on Sunday. The sport’s governing body has come under pressure from campaigners to mandate that prize money for men and women should be equal as a way of beginning to unlock greater gender equality within the maledominated sport.
There had been hopes among those campaigning for the change that elections to the board of a number of sympathetic directors might have swayed the CTT.
However, at the CTT board meeting last Sunday the board unanimously decided not to make prize money equal.
Instead it said it would appoint a director to develop ways to increase female participation within the sport.
In a statement it said: “The board is fully supportive of improving participation and equal opportunities within Cycling Time Trials for all underrepresented groups within our community. As such we have voted to approve a proposal to dedicate a director to lead on this project and to engage with the community on all levels.”
Working together
It said the director would “work with clubs, districts and organisers to identify areas of improvement, propose changes where necessary” as well as offer support to organisers and others to “achieve greater participation and equal recognition” within CTT events.
It added: “Cycling Time Trials is not alone with this problem but we hope that the work we are prepared to do will showcase our discipline as a beacon of what can be achieved when all involved in the sport works together.”
But it stopped short of mandating equal prize money, a central plank of the campaigners’ aims. “Equal prize money is one symptom of a greater problem of inequality which exists across the sporting world; one we hope to resolve with a greater understanding of the root cause,” it said.
Alice Thomson, a campaigner with the Equality and Parity in Cycling (EPIC) group, which put forward the proposal for equal prize money, said the decision not to take that step was “a little bit disappointing” but that the appointment of a director to look into gender equality could open up avenues for even greater progress.
“It’s a really big reason then to dedicate a director to work on that project. As far as I’m aware it’s the first time they’ve done anything like that, so that shows they are taking it seriously.”
She added: “Perhaps it gives us the chance to push for other changes that we think are needed.”
Thomson reiterated that the EPIC group was “prepared” for this and has already been working with race organisers to develop a set of standards for events that promote gender equality.
She added: “It’s not stopping here.”