Raising the growth and participation of female sports officials in Europe

Background From grassroots participation to elite international competitions, sport would grind to a halt without sport officials (referees, umpires, judges etc). NO SPORT OFFICIALS = NO SPORT.The ambition of WINS was to address gender equity in officiating – across all sports – by undertaking comprehensive research activities into the problems facing female sport officials and producing practical solutions which can support the organisations responsible for their recruitment, retention and development. Objectives > Conduct research including a survey of women officials to inform a European research report on gender and sport officiating> Gather good practices and publish them in a European Compendium of good practice case studies on recruitment and retention of women sport officials> Support sport organisations with an innovative online toolkit for recruitment and retention of women sport officials> Define best practice in mentoring through a mentoring guide for women sport officials in Europe Implementation Successful implementation through a detailed workplan with a different partner responsible for each work package. Partners were fully engaged, sharing tasks and exchanging knowledge and good practice in sport officiating and gender equality. They met formally 6 times (3 in person, 3 online). The project delivered all outputs to planned budget, schedule and quality standards. Implementation highlights include an innovative online toolkit and a well-attended European Women Sport Officials Forum. Achievements > European research report on gender and sport officiating> European Compendium of good practice case studies on recruitment and retention of women sport officials> Online toolkit for recruitment and retention of women sport officials> Mentoring guide for women sport officials in Europe> Final Conference with over 40 participants from Europe and beyond> Wide dissemination and communication activities > Raised awareness and understanding of sport officials and gender equality in sport