In 2012 the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) mandated that all of the boards of national sporting organizations was to consist 40% female members. To this point this standard has not been met by nine organizations.
One of those organizations is Swimming Australia which has only 22% of their board being female. They are tied with Football Federation Australia for the second lowest percentage with only the Australian Paralympic Committee being lower with 11%.
This mandate was also included in ‘Australia’s Winning Edge’ plan and could ultimately cost organizations partial funding if they do it meet the requirements laid out by the ASC.
In an interview with The Age Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick points out just how powerful a gender equality change in sport could be, “When a sport moves to greater gender equality and inclusion I think the possibility for change is greater,” says Broderick.
“If sport becomes more inclusive, and it’s used as a vehicle to build inclusion for men and women, then it has the potential to create change in the nation.”
“[Sport] influences millions of people. The strong brands like Telstra and Qantas, they will be influential, but I think there’s a deeper connection between people and their sporting team. It’s more passionate than between people and the products they buy.”
One of the initiatives that Broderick has put in place in many sectors in Australia is the creation small groups of influential male representatives to form ‘male champions of change groups’.
Broderick feels that if significant change is to be made it must come from the males in leadership roles, “If you look generally, in every nation power sits largely in the hands of men. So if we want to create change we need powerful men taking the message of change … that’s what’s going to shift it,” says Broderick.
A ‘male champions of change group’ has now been put in place in the sporting realm. This group includes Swimming Australia’s CEO Mark Anderson. Anderson has been pushing to make change within Swimming Australia, soon two of the four people who report directly to him will be women and the organization actively recruiting more women to become members of the organization’s board.
He also stressed that women are in strong leadership roles across the organization,”We’ve got four women on the seven-person committee, led by the Campbell sisters and Bronte Barrett. They have been very strong in terms of leadership across the whole swimming team,” Anderson told The Age.
Within the organization they have a leadership group of athletes which is made up of four females and three males. This group includes world champion Cate Campbell who has taken on a great deal of leadership within the Australian swim team.
JUST APPOINT THE BEST PEOPLE FOR THE JOB , GENDER %’S DO NOT MAKE THE GOVERNANCE BETTER OR WORSE………..
In Olympic sports , Australian females are much more successful though their numbers have been lower. They have been 30% of the team yet won 60% of the medals So , apples for apples , women should be in these appointed olympic sport bodies much more than they have been.
This Broderick person is stupid . Recently she was orgasmic about one unit of the minuscule Norwegian Army northern patrol who had shared dormitory arrangements . This she decided ought be the gender balanced standards for the Australian Army . Of course she has never been in the army , where I can assure her that in a typical jungle/ tropic exercise ,men & women & inbetweens share latrines… Read more »
Title ix is government overreach. I thought the US was the land of liberty and not the land of central planning.
Mandates like this don’t help anyone. Has Title IX done more good or bad for the world?
Quotas like this work under the assumption that men and women have exactly identical aggregate interest in sports. They do not.
Are there the same number of qualified male and female candidates for these positions? If not, you will promote those who are less qualified while punishing those who are more qualified.