by Daniela Gomes, ITTF Development, Education and Training Projects Officer

Venue for the proceedings will be the Gaborone International Convention Centre; six plenary sessions will be staged, which will enable delegates to debate wide ranging issues relevant to promoting female participation in sport.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to learn “being well” in addition to “play well”. The importance that access to physical activity and sport has on girls’ and women’s health will be a major topic.

Additional focus will be awarded to the “safe space” concept within the sport culture and to “visibility” for an improved future that requires women to tell their stories as competitors, leaders, role models.

“Research, promotion by sport federations, journalists as advocates for change and the use of social media to advance support of women as athletes” are some of the pathways valued by the Forum to promote women´s social mobility in sport. “Tell their Story” is an ideal that aims at encouraging the media raise female athletes’ voices and enhance further support.

Also on the agenda, the smashing down barriers concept is emphasized by the theme “Welcome and Empower” all through sport, where girl and women´s empowerment aims at deconstructing conscious and unconscious bias about the gender roles and further promotes equity in opportunities for all roles and at all levels.

Notably, gender equality best practices come from all over the world; the cross-cultural collaboration will be a main concept in Botswana, with the Sport without Borders Panel.

In order to reinforce earlier studies that show gender inequity in leadership roles and recommend specific measures to increase the number of female leaders for posts of responsibility within sport, the Conference will highlight the need to change the leadership landscape of sport with the “Let them Lead” theme.

Both registration and call for abstracts inviting potential presenters to submit papers commenced on Monday 1st May.

Further information visit: International Working Group on Women and Sport