What’s The State Of Equity In Sport?
This week, an article in Marketing Week reported that, according to the Women's Trust, four in five brand decision-makers will likely invest in women’s sports sponsorship in the next three years.
We also attended the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s EDI in Sport event and heard how recreational and community sports organisations are becoming more equitable. Viveen Taylor, Director of EDI at Sport England, shared trends, insights, challenges and opportunities to embed EDI in sporting organisations.
This got us thinking about the state of equity in sports and historically excluded audiences. Many in the room shared their passion for inclusion, including Cool Rowings, who provide community-led, adaptive sport and exercise programmes.
Here are four things we learned:
South Asian communities remain underrepresented in sports: However, with organisations like the FA launching their three-year plan to drive South Asian representation in sports, organisations are starting to address the challenges and take action.
Gender is on the agenda: England Hockey recently announced a ban on transgender women competing in the female category starting next season following similar announcements by the Lawn Tennis Association and LPGA Golf Tour, who said that transgender women who have gone through male puberty would no longer be allowed to compete. Whilst Andrew Parsons, the president of the International Paralympic Committee, has said he is opposed to "blanket solutions" for transgender participation policies, there continues to be a rollback on trans inclusion in recreational and elite sports.
The diversity, equity and inclusion mandate within the Code for Sports Governance is being implemented: The Code sets out the levels of transparency, diversity and inclusion, accountability, and integrity required from organisations seeking and receiving UK Government and National Lottery funding from Sport England and/or UK Sport.
Point 2.1 of the code states that each organisation must publish clear ambitions to ensure its leadership represents and reflects the diversity of the local and/or national community. Since its inception in 2016, the code has been applied to more than 4,000 organisations in the UK— progress we love to hear about!
The ICEC report we launched in 2023 has driven change in cricket: If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that we launched the landmark Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket report, which examined sexism, racism, and class-based discrimination in cricket. We were pleased to learn that since the report’s publication in June 2023, more than half of its recommendations - and there are 137 - have been implemented. That’s what we call impact!
What’s clear is that many sports have a long way to go to achieve equity and inclusion. It’s encouraging to see more brands and organisations rethinking their approach to engaging new and emerging audiences, the marathon continues.