Launch of the Global Observatory for Women

Thanks to the commitment of the Swiss authorities, including the Canton of Vaud, the City of Lausanne and the University of Lausanne, this launch marks the outcome of a process initiated at the Fourth International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport (MINEPS IV) in 2003, and confirmed in 2017, at MINEPS VI, within the framework of the Kazan Action Plan (KAP).

This Observatory seeks to overcome global and systemic inequalities for girls and women in sport. Today, in Europe, 45% of men play sport at least once a week compared to 37% of women, and men’s competitions are broadcast up to 20 times more than women’s competitions – disparities exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis. Inequalities are real, but comprehensive data is lacking. To stimulate much needed investments in the area of women and sport, documenting and evidencing positive impacts will be crucial.

The establishment of this Observatory will support the advancement of quantitative and qualitative research on the practice of women’s sport to create unified evaluation methodologies and to guide governmental and non-governmental actors in the design of action plans accelerating gender equality in and through sport.

The Observatory will also tangibly advance the Generation Equality 5-year action plan. Specifically, integrating stakeholder action in the field of women and sport, developing impact measurement methodologies and disseminating results-driven reports. UNESCO, through the Observatory, will work in close collaboration with many key stakeholders including the International Olympic Committee and UN Women to objectives like the minimum of 30% of women in the decision-making bodies of sports organisations called for by Kristy Coventry during the Generation Equality Forum held between June 30th, and July 2nd 2021.

In these ways, the Observatory will contribute to the dynamics of the “Sport for Generation Equality” initiative launched in November 2020 by UN Women with the support of UNESCO. The Observatory will play a central role in the implementation of Principle 6 of this initiative, on annual monitoring and evaluation, and will help to achieve the other five principles, based on leadership, protection, economic opportunities, media coverage and female participation in sport.

“The visual power of girls claiming spaces, on and off the sport field, on a par with their male counterparts has a long-term cascading impact on social mind sets, changing the narrative in favor of gender equity.” 

– Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO

UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector is fully committed to driving the success of the Observatory’s missions and invites all like-minded actors to join the work.

The position of Director of the Observatory is open for applications from today until 30 August 2021.

Links:

The Press Release of the Swiss Confederation government

The position of Director of the Global Observatory is available. For any questions or requests, please contact the following address: riv@lausanne.ch(link sends e-mail).