The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and Sport Australia (the operating brand of the Australian Sports Commission) have launched an initiative to attract more women as executives and high performance coaches in the sports industry.
The move is aimed to address what the Chief Executive of Sport Australia, Kate Palmer described as “a gross under-representation” of female executives and coaches.
“The AIS Talent Program is open for applications now to female sport executives and high performance coaches, which the AIS has identified as key positions requiring more diversity,” Ms Palmer said.
“In executive positions, women represent 22 per cent of board chairs and just 13 per cent of chief executives across more than 60 national sporting organisations that are funded by Sport Australia and the AIS.”
She said the picture was no better for female high performance coaches, who represented less than 15 per cent of coaches across Australia’s high performance system.
“Looking at Olympic sports as an example, only 15 of the 160 accredited coaches at the 2016 Rio Olympics were female — just nine per cent,” Ms Palmer said..
“That’s a declining trend when you consider it was 12 per cent at the 2012 London Olympics.”
She said the rise in profile of women’s professional leagues had been “fantastic” for the progress of female athletes, but that hadn’t translated into the same opportunities for female coaches and leaders.
“We need to address any systemic biases preventing females taking up these opportunities.”
Ms Palmer said the AIS Talent Program would be designed to deliver transformational skills for women in sport who were ready to progress to leadership positions.
“It will help identify, develop, retain and progress talent that can challenge the status quo and increase diversity in sport,” she said.
More information about the program and how to apply to join can be accessed on LinkedIn at this PS News link.
