International: Gender Equality and Sport
Source:
WUNRN This report on women in sport has been published to promote the goals of the Beijing declaration and the platform for action.
Women’s participation in sport has a long history. It is a history marked by division and discrimination but also one
filled with major accomplishments by female athletes and important advances for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
Sport and the MDGs
Goal 1:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Providing development opportunities will help fight poverty. The sport industry, as well as the organization of large sporting events, creates opportunities for employment. Sport provides life skills essential for a productive life in society. The opportunity to acquire such skills is often more limited for women, making their access to sport of critical importance.Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education. Sport and physical education are an essential element of quality education. They promote positive values and skills that have an immediate and lasting impact on young people. Sport activities and physical education generally make school more attractive and improve attendance.
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. Increasing access for women and girls to physical education and sport helps build confidence and promotes stronger social integration. Involving girls in sport activities alongside boys can help overcome prejudice that often contributes to social vulnerability of women and girls.
Goals 4 and 5: Reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. Sport can be an effective means to provide women with a healthy lifestyle as well as to convey important messages on a wide range of health issues.
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Sport can help engage otherwise difficult-to-reach populations and provide positive role models delivering prevention messages. The most vulnerable populations, including women and girls, are highly responsive to sport-targeted programmes. Sport can also effectively assist in overcoming prejudice, stigma and discrimination.
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability. Sport is ideal for raising awareness about the need to preserve the environment. The interdependency between the regular practice of outdoor sports and the protection of the environment is clear.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development. Sport offers diverse opportunities for innovative partnerships for development and can be used as a tool to build and foster partnerships between developed and developing nations to work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Source: Adapted from International Year of Sport and Physical Education (2005). A year of sports. Available from www.un.org/sport2005/a_year/ mill_goals.html
You can read the full publication here: www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/Women%20and%20Sport.pdf
