Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) have chosen 33 women to take part in leadership development courses in an effort to improve the under-representation of female executives and high performance coaches in Australian sport.
The programs are funded in partnership with the Office for Women.
The group comprises 17 coaches and 16 executives selected from more than 250 applicants to participate in the intensive leadership development programs that will run concurrently in 2019.
Chief Executive of Sport Australia, Kate Palmer said advances continued to be made for elite female athletes in Australia, including some sports making a commitment to take steps towards pay equity.
“However, the lack of opportunity for women in other areas of sport, particularly executive and coaching positions, is intolerable,” Ms Palmer said.
“Despite the recent appointment of female chief executives in sports such as basketball, equestrian and water polo, of the 63 sports we fund, only 15 — less than a quarter — have female chief executives,” she said.
“Sport Australia will continue to advocate for progress. We will not turn a blind eye to what is an unacceptable and systemic imbalance.”
She said the new talent programs had been designed to shift mindsets and behaviour in Australian sport.
“We want participants in these programs to be part of that transformation.
“These programs will focus on building the personal skills of participants so they can maximise their professional development and drive change as influential leaders in sport.”
Chief Executive of the AIS, Peter Conde said this was an issue the AIS was determined to lead on behalf of all Australian high performance sport.
“It’s true, there has been a progression in the profile and recognition of female athletes and competitions in recent years, but that hasn’t resulted in more high performance coaching opportunities for women,” Mr Conde said.
The programs will begin with their first workshops at the end of this month (March), covering areas such as leadership presence, professional networking and understanding barriers to organisational diversity.
