The endorsement of the Declaration and its 10 principles came on the occasion of the 23rd European Athletics Congress in Skopje.

The Declaration is meant to complement all sporting, local, national and international charters, laws, codes, rules and regulations relating to women or sport.

"The signing of the Brighton Declaration underlines our continued commitment to increase the involvement of women in our sport and celebrate the important contributions made by women to athletics," said European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz.

More than 300 organisations worldwide have endorsed the Declaration, which emanates from the first international conference on women and sport that took place in Brighton, England, in1994. It was organised by the British Sports Council and supported by the International Olympic Committee.

The conference specifically addressed the issue of how to accelerate the process of change that would redress the imbalances women face in their participation and involvement in sport.

On the same weekend as the signing, European Athletics and British Athletics hosted 50 women officials from 32 countries at the inaugural Women in World Athletics Seminar (WIWA) in Solihull, Great Britain. The main aim of the seminar is to develop women leaders and increase the involvement of women as officials and in other functions at all levels around the world.

European Athletics' commitment to the development of women leaders and gender equity is also embodied by its biennial Women's Leadership Awards, which recognise and celebrate the important contributions made by women throughout Europe to the sport of athletics.

To read the original press-release, click here.

For more information on the European Athletics Women's Leadership Awards click here.

For more information on the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport click here.

Sonja Spendelhofer

ASKÖ's slogan is “sports for all – everybody can have his sport”. ASKÖ is built on social democratic  principles like freedom, equality, fairness and solidarity. ASKÖ offers sport, wellness, fitness or performance sport,  to all people, to every person, no matter which age, sex or social standing.

Therefore it is a main goal to respect the principles of the Brighton Declaration – I think, we are on a good way, we have a lot of fields, in which we already follow the principles - but we know, there is still a lot to do, too.

Signing the Brighton Declaration on Women and sport would point the way to the future and help to open the eyes of those, who do not want to see the sign of time.

http://www.askoe.at/de

The family of Brighton Signatories recently got a new member when World Village of Women Sport joined the team. The aim of World Village of Women Sport (WVWS) is to give female athletes the same opportunities to develop as their male colleagues. Although Sweden is one of the leading countries in terms of gender equality, the work is not yet done, especially within the field of sports, says Malin Eggertz Forsmark, the CEO of the WVWS.

Today, women are judged by the male standard. Of course, this comparison favours the male athletes. Female athletes must be given the opportunity to set their own agenda. World Village of Women Sports will provide an important base for women athletes all over the world, says Gunilla Lindberg, member of the International Olympic Committe (IOC).A total of 200 million Euros will be invested in this centre for research and development, which is being established in Malmö, Sweden. The new centre will provide new opportunities for international sporting organisations and clubs. World Village of Women Sports is a wide-ranging initiative that will encompass research, development and testing, and create a hub where the worlds of sport, academia and business unite to promote women’s sport.

More information check:http://www.womensportvillage.com/news/wvws-endorses-the-brighton-declaration-on-women-and-sport

The first official step towards the 6th IWG World Conference was taken February 1, 2013. Approximately one hundred enthusiastic and motivated sport and gender actives from Finland gathered together to discover the ways how the upcoming conference will look and feel like.

A message from the Conference Patron, President Tarja Halonen welcomed the guests by summarizing the goals of the kick off. The aims of the kick off was to survey Finnish expertise and bring together different forces so that Finland can offer as multifaceted and stimulating framework as possible for our international guests in 2014. President Halonen reminded that “Sport has the power to tell stories that stay in our minds and hearts."

The former activities and employees of the Finnish Sports Federation, Young Finland Association and the Finnish Sport for All Association have been transferred to the new organization on January 1, 2013. The Finnish Olympic Committee remains an independent organization but will cooperate closely with the new umbrella organization.  

The Finnish Sports Confederation or 'Valo' as its called in Finnish, which means 'light', is responsible for the promotion of sport and physical activity as a way of life as well as voluntary civic activity in sport. The new organization serves as the uniting force of the Finnish sports community. The Finnish Sports Confederation (Valo) will likewise continue to carry out the duties and obligations (e.g., memberships in various organisations) made by the Finnish Sports Federation, Young Finland Association and the Finnish Sport for All Association. Some organizational changes are expected to take place over the following months, and the structure of the new organization readied by the beginning of April 2013. 

Finnish Sports Confederation (Valo)

Radiokatu 20, 00240 Helsinki

Postal address: FI-00093 VALO
tel. +358 9 348 121

www.valo.fi

The Portuguese Sports Federation for Persons with Disabilities (FPDD) is a non – profit organisation responsible for promote the sport for all without exceptions accordingly with our Statutes.

In Portugal, the practice of sport is generally very low and when we talk about women is even worse, so, we consider that it is crucial to stimulate the women to participate in the development of sport.

The aim of Brighton Declaration is precisely to develop the sporting culture and to demonstrate that the involvement of women in all levels is fundamental to ensure the equality of opportunities for all persons.

Federação Portuguesa de Desporto para Pessoas com Deficiênciato website:http://www.fpdd.org/pt

With a population of almost 50,000 people, the Faroe Islands are an island group and archipelago under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark, situated approximately halfway between Norway and Iceland. The Faroese Confederation of Sports and Olympic Committee is the latest member to join the signatories of the Brighton Declaration.

Ms. Kristiina Pekkola has been involved in sports through her life first as an athlete and now in decision making roles both nationally and internationally. During the years 1982-1989, Pekkola has serves as a member of Swedish National Judo Team taking part in the European and World Championships. Her grade is Grad: 5 Dan.

Since the 1990s, Pekkkola has been working on gender issues in sport at the federal level. She has worked as Secretary and promoter of the Swedish Sport Psychology Federation and she has been a member of the board of the South Swedish District Federation - Skåneidrotten/SISU. Currently, besides serving as the Chair of the EWS, she is the vice president of the Swedish Judo Federation and serves as an expert in the Official Reports of the State. SOU 2003:24 - Professional Boxing and Reports on the Martial arts, the department Sports and Culture. Her civil occupation is Managing Director of the "Center of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Sports Psychology".

Kristiina Pekkola was born in Finland and speaks therefore fluent Finnish. She also speaks Spanish and English fluently. She is married with two children.

The IWG warmly welcomes Ms Pekkola to the IWG Group and wishes expresses its gratitude to Dr. Evelina Georgiades the previous European Representative, for her great contribution and excellent cooperation between EWS and IWG.

More information of the European Women and Sport: http://www.ews-online.org/en

Ms. Malini Rajasegaran has committed her working career to the disability/paralympic sports movement and she has been founding organizing committee member of the ASEAN Para Sports and since that she has been involved in organizing the Para Winter and Summer Games. 

The sport of Yoga has been embraced by women worldwide, which is why the IYSF sees it important to encourage women globally to participate in its sport; to utilize it as a way to achieve, excel, and take an active role in their health and well being, as well as positively influence those around them.  The principles of the Brighton Declaration align with IYSF’s mission and following aims to promote women in sports which is why the adoption of the Declaration was a natural step in their work.

• To promote yoga Asana as a leadership sport and build female role models;
• To show that yoga is a vehicle for social change all over the world by encouraging women’s empowerment;
• Having a strong female constituent promotes Yoga as changing the nature of sports – less violence, more healing;
• To unite women and give them a strong voice through participation in yoga Asana competition;
• To ensure that women’s involvement in yoga contributes to the development of yoga Asana as a sport;
• To show that with yoga, women can advance to better their Self, career, and life;
• To visually display that yoga Asana as a sport aids the women’s body and mind (physically and emotionally);
• In promoting the benefits of yoga Asanas, female athletes are mentors to youth, through to senior women, in taking up the practice of yoga, in general.

Further information: http://yogasportsfederation.org/

The overall goal of AWRA is to improve gender equality in the sports industry in Australia says Janice Crosswhite, President of AWRA. AWRA aims to be proactive in its work through various projects it is carrying out to make the sports world more gender equal. Currently the AWRA is writing a new advocacy paper of women’s sports looking at all levels of participation, leadership, media coverage and issues affecting women in sport. This paper will be launched in October at a women’s sport conference in Melbourne and workshopped next February at a national conference in Canberra.

Developing women’s leadership in sports in Australia is one of the main priorities of the work of AWRA. It is delivering a mentoring project around Australia and developing this into a more sustainable project through the use of the internet, to deliver into regional and rural Australia. An ongoing project is the delivery of leadership workshops at local and grass-root level around the country to guarantee that women have possibilities and the skills to take leadership positions in sports in Australia. 

AWRA website: http://www.australianwomensport.com.au/

Before joining the IWG team, Ms. Toroi worked at the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and in Geneva, Switzerland. She has experience from Rwanda where she worked with Project Air, a unique programme that focuses on HIV+ women and their children by using yoga to help allay some of the trauma and mental health issues left in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. In Finland she has worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Rovaniemi and as a teacher for physical and health education in a junior high school in Helsinki. Ms. Toroi has two masters’ degrees: Master in Sport Sciences from the University of Jyväskylä and Master of Arts in Peace Education from the United Nations Mandated University for Peace, Costa Rica.

• Working closely with all member federations to ensure that they fully understand and support the need for furthering gender equality;
• Hosting workshops and seminars to provide the necessary training for women to act as senior officials at events;
• Ensuring that women serve in senior capacities not only within the FIM AFRICA structure, but also within the structures of member federations and clubs/associations affiliated to these federations;
• Making provision in our sporting regulations for the inclusion of women in all categories and classes of motorcycle competition; and
• Encouraging the involvement of young girls in motorcycling.

IWG Co-Chair Raija Mattila was invited to speak at the World Lottery Summit 2012 in Montreal, Canada on Sports Integrity along with Risto Nieminen, President and Chief Executive Officer
Veikkaus Oy; Richard Pound, Member, International Olympic Committee and founding Chairman, World Anti-Doping Agency; Detlev Zenglein, General Manager, FIFA Early Warning System GmbH.

In her speech "Integrity, good governance and the importance of inclusion" , Mattila focuses on the importance of integrity and inclusion for the success of both sport and the lottery industry. The key message of her speech is that women represent the largest marginalized group in decision making – there are relatively few women in decision making roles worldwide in virtually every sector.  She underlines that inequality cannot be accepted nor can we qualify governance as 'good' if the interests of more than half of society is disproportionately underrepresented or excluded all together. 

The text of Mattila’s speech and accompanying slideshow can be found from the IWG website along with previous speeches from various events.

World Lottery Summit 2012 was held in Montreal, Canada on September 8-12, 2012

At the ENGSO General Assembly which was successfully organised by the BSFS in Bulgaria’s Sunny Beach, the Brighton Declaration was an item on the agenda. The BSFS expressed their enthusiasm and commitment to the advancement of women’s sport by signing the declaration.

Ms. Naumanen has been working in the IWG Secretariat from the very beginning of the Finnish term, September 2010, first working as an intern and now serving as an IWG coordinator. She takes care of communication, marketing materials and organizing different meetings and conferences.  

Saara Naumanen

IWG Coordinator

saara.naumanen@slu.fi

The IWG warmly welcomes ASOIF - which represents the twenty-eight member federations on the program of the summer Olympic Games - to the family of Brighton Declaration signatories.

In her address to ASOIF, IWG Special Advisor Kate Laine highlighted the significance of the occassion, "When an umbrella organization of this stature elects to commit itself to the principles of the Brighton Declaration, it sends out an important message to all its member organizations whom we encourage to consider following in these footsteps and adopt the declaration as a foundation for policy and practice in equality work. With this signing, the starting gun has fired, the stopwatch is running, your race has begun. The IWG looks forward to seeing the association go for the gold with respect to the full and equitable involvement of women in all aspects of sport."

A press release on the ASOIF website can be found here.