12. Women Win’s “tools” belong to the ogranizations Women Win serves and are co-created in the field, confirming our belief in the “wisdom of the crowds,” and are designed to be shared with all.
Sarah and Megan’s Abstract: In 2007, the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group (SDP IWG) Secretariat commissioned a review of the existing SDP literature as it related to best practices, challenges, and experiences in the field. This literature review examined several themes within the emerging field, and included a chapter on gender, sport, and development. The chapter on gender concluded with section headings: “What we know” and “What we don’t know and need to know” and left practitioners and scholars with a semi-structured research agenda from which to move forward. In this presentation, we examine the literature on gender, sport, and development that has emerged since this important report by 1) summarizing key academic articles produced since 2007, and 2) presenting the experiences of practitioners via WomenWin’s International Guidelines for Developing Sport Programs for Girls: Voices from the Field (2010). We establish this literature base on best practices, challenges, and experiences in the field in order to re-visit and re-engage the key questions presented from the SDP IWG literature review. What do SDP practitioners and researchers claim to know about the issue of gender within SDP programming in 2010, and what do we still need to know? What areas of inquiry should research on gender, sport, and development pursue, and how might it be done most effectively? We offer a workshop format in order to present our ideas and to gather others on an SDP gender research agenda. Terri’s Abstract: Beyond Sport: Designing a Platform for Advancing Education for Women and Girls The UN MDGs two and three on education and gender equality address the fact that in many areas of the world, women and girls are marginalized by social, economic and academic limitations. In the efforts taken toward meeting these goals, specifically regarding gender and education, the Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group has acknowledged the integral role sports could play in promoting gender equity and empowering women in girls. However, the report also found that the value of sport, specifically for women and girls, is often overlooked as a tool for social change due to social, economic, and cultural barriers. There has been much work done to date from a range of government and non-government organizations to address these barriers and work collectively to devise solutions and advance programs to improve girls and women’s access to sport and education. This leadership has led to the creation of many research reports, blueprints for action, policy resolutions and conferences around women and girls in sport. Despite this wealth of leadership and resources, not all countries have been successful at leveraging these assets to meet the UN’s MDGs for education. Many still struggle with establishing a forum that connects the country’s key influencers from the private, government, education and sport sectors and allows cross-collaboration to translate ideas into concrete actions. This workshop will explore strategies for how to make these connections and translate these ideas into action. It will draw upon the model that Beyond Sport is launching at its annual summit this year in Chicago designed to integrate sport into the development of education policy. At this Summit, Beyond Sport will host a symposium on women and girls’ and education will bring together key influencers from five countries with the objective to share resources and expertise to develop and advance policy that uses sports as a tool for complying with MDGs two and three.
Great that there is an increased investement in girls and in sports ....BUT... Despite the increased investment we know that there are barriers that are still preventing some girls from participating in sport. Despite the initiatives there is still a huge group of girls that are facing barriers – not only in terms of participating in sprot but in participating in society. Until we acknowledge and address these barriers, participation will still not be possible for some girls . Investment initaitives will therefore not be as effective as they could be. We also need to do this to ensure that current initiatives will be more effective.
Are these barriers specific or universal? We’ve seen two things . There are specific barriers for specific countries and cultures and regions BUT...... There are multiple universal barriers too. Specific example – in Pakistan women are not expected to play sport in public spaces, so a specific barrier for girls in Pakistan is access to space. Universal example – is the gender stereotypes applied to sport. In Rwanda women are expected to play with sports with their hands and can not kick a ball. In Holland it not’s expected to play rugby – as this is very much seen as a male sport. The most important step to understanding what obstacles girls’ in a specific region face is to go out in the community and ask parents and leaders about their thoughts on girls playing sports.
Questions on ‘gender’ from ISDPA online discussion area: 1. What do you see as the current status of the field of gender and sport for development and peace? 2. What is your vision for gender and sport for development and peace? 3. What are some personal stories or moments you can share that capture the opportunities and challenges of addressing gender in the context of sport for development and peace?
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