2011 SU Update: FISU President Signs Brighton Declaration at FISU Gender Equality Round Table Conference

The participants of the Round Table Conference

SHENZHEN – Today, August 14^th, outgoing FISU President George E. Killian signed the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport, adding FISU to the list 257 organizations worldwide which have notified the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) that they have adopted and endorsed the said Declaration.

‘For the 2010-2014 quadrennial term, IWG is hosted by the Finnish Sports Federation in Helsinki. During this period the secretariat is lead by its co-chairs: Finnish Expert Mrs. Raija Mattila and Mrs. Johanna Adriaanse, Director of Human Movement and Sport Management at University of Technology in Sydney, Australia’, explained Hilkka Laitinen, Secretary-General of OLL, the Finnish University Sports Federation. OLL was the first FISU Member Association to have signed the Declaration.

Mr. Killian signs the Brighton DeclarationThe signing of the document took place at the FISU Round Table Conference on Gender Equality in sports which was attended by the FISU Women’s Committee (Verena Burk, Penninah Kabenge, ,Alison Odell, Kairis Ulp), the FISU Liaisons of the Continental Federations (Supitr Samahito (AUSF), Aitor Canibe Sanchez (EUSA), Helena Williams (FASU), Sosaura Méndez (ODUPA) and ISF guests Susanne Womersley, FITA Council Member, Claire Chehab, Chair IAAF Women’s Committee, Li LingWei, former Olympic Champion and Deputy Chair of the WBF Women’s Committee.

Mr. Killian, a great advocate of gender equality in sports was happy to end his term as FISU President signing the important document. ‘I’ve always been a big supporter of equal opportunities for women in sports’, the President said. ‘Too few women are holding high ranking officials’ spots in the world of sport. I hope this will change in the future.’

Clair Chehab, ,Verena Burk, Susanne Womersley, Li LingWei, Kairis Ulp & Aliison Odell

Among the other multiple sports organizations that signed the declaration are the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation, while 16 international sport federations also signed the declaration.

Declaration

The ‘Brighton Declaration on Women on Sport’ addresses the issue of how to accelerate the process of change to redress the imbalances women face in their participation and involvement in sport.

This Declaration is addressed to all those governments, public authorities, organizations, businesses, educational and research establishments, women’s organizations and individuals who are responsible for, or who directly or indirectly influence, the conduct, development or promotion of sport or who are in any way involved in the employment, education, management, training, development or care of women in sport. This Declaration is meant to complement all sporting, local, national and international charters, laws, codes, rules and regulations relating to women or sport.

Aim

The overriding aim is to develop a sporting culture that enables and values the full involvement of women in every aspect of sport.

It is the interests of equality, development and peace that a commitment be made by governmental, non-governmental organizations and all those institutions involved in sport to apply the Principles set out in this Declaration by developing appropriate policies, structures and mechanisms which:

– ensure that all women and girls have opportunity to participate in sport in a safe and supportive environment which preserves the rights, dignity and respect of the individual;

– increase the involvement of women in sport at all levels and in all functions and roles;

– ensure that the knowledge, experiences and values of women contribute to the development of sport;

– promote the recognition of women’s involvement in sport as a contribution to public life, community development and in building a healthy nation;

– promote the recognition by women of the intrinsic value of sport and its contribution to personal development and healthy lifestyle.

C. Pierre, FISU Press Officer

Mr. Killian signs the declaration, flanked by Hilkka Laitinen

Li LingWei (BWF)

Claire Chehab (IAAF)

Susanne Womersley (FITA)

FISU Women’s Committee Chair Verena Burk
 

Success

Verena Burk, Chair of the Women’s Committee and this Round Table Conference, was very satisfied with the outcome of the first Round Table Conference. ‘We started today with analyzing the structure of each ISF present and also the work in the field of gender equality just to define the areas where FISU and these ISFs can cooperate. Then in the second round we discussed the possibilities and found out that leadership is the most important. In terms of competition man and women are almost equally participating and we discussed at length the possibilities were we could collaborate like mentoring programs or in events to make the work of gender equality committees more visible within the FISU Family but also within the members of the ISFs.’

‘It was a successful start’, Mrs. Burk added. ‘We will continue with a Round Table Conference in Chinese Taipei during the 2012 FISU Forum, since representatives from Badminton and Archery will be with us and present in the Women’s session of the Forum.’