In an effort to promote equality between women and men and ensure a safe sporting environment, the European Union’s ministers responsible for sport ministers, meeting at the EU Council in Brussels on Friday 24 November, approved conclusions reinforcing the need for access to safe, inclusive and fair sporting activities, free from any form of discrimination or violence.
The Member States are called upon to take action to increase the proportion of women in sports management positions, to promote wider media coverage of women’s sporting competitions without stereotypes, and to prevent and combat harassment, sexual abuse and violence at all levels. The EU Council calls on the Member States to implement policies guaranteeing “equal pay for equal work in professional sport”.
The aim is also to provide better protection for witnesses and victims of gender-based violence and to consider the gender perspective in sports infrastructures and facilities.
The European Commission is encouraged to include the sport sector in its gender equality strategies and to continue raising awareness throughout the EU. Fair financing opportunities should also be promoted.
The Spanish Secretary of State for Sport, Victor Francos Díaz, who chaired the debates, reaffirmed the commitment of the current Presidency of the EU Council to combating all forms of discrimination and harassment in sport. The EU Council conclusions recognise the role of sport as a model in the fight against gender inequality and a means of combating intolerance and exclusion.
The aim of the decisions approved is to “unanimously tackle the question of under representation of women in sport inequalities on the labour market, obstacles in the way of standing in the way of access to management jobs, and then the whole question of violence and harassment”, explained Mr Francos Díaz at the end of the discussions.
To read the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/9rh (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)