Assist, the Italian National Association for Female Athletes has launched the “Prevention and Education Against Violence in Sport” protocol. The project comprises a training course designed to address gender violence in sports and was inaugurated on International Women’s Day.
The organisation’s objective is to implement the necessary tools to achieve gender equality in sports in Italy.
In particular, “Pedav Sport” serves as a model for assistance and training for all Italian sports clubs and associations, regardless of discipline and level. Two are the issues this protocol focuses on.
Firstly, it guides how to formally meet the obligations introduced by the Sports Reform adopted in 2023. That norm modified the previous legislation in the field, recognising the rights and dignity of sports work and simplifying employers’ obligations. The reform aims to create a more equal, sustainable and inclusive sports environment for all Italian citizens. For instance, it eliminates anti-maternity clauses that make it legal to unilaterally terminate a contract in the event of pregnancy. It’s a concrete step forward and for Assist all Italian sports organisations must know how to adapt to this reform.
On the other hand, “Pedav Sport” works together with experts from Differenza Donna’s anti-violence centres to adequately train professionals who will handle this delicate task within their clubs or associations.
Assist was founded in 2000 in Rome. Its purpose is to protect and represent the collective rights of female athletes across all competitive sports disciplines and female sports workers, including coaches, sports managers, and communication professionals. It also works to counter harassment in sports through awareness-raising and communication projects, and to promote equal rights in sports, equal access to sports, and the formation of a leadership class that embraces the values of inclusion and gender equality.
“Pedav Sport” is just one of many projects, campaigns and events promoted by Assist. For example, in 2020, Assist launched “SAVE – Sports Abuse and Violence Elimination”, a national service against violence, harassment and abuse in sports in collaboration with Differenza Donna Ong. The Italian National Association for Female Athletes also partners with other sporting and humanitarian organisations at the international level. From 2021 to 2023, Assist coordinated the Empowering Women for Sports events in Europe (EWSE), a network of women’s sporting events and festivals aimed at increasing their social inclusion, leadership opportunities, equal visibility and representation.
Yet, despite the efforts made, gender equality remains far from being achieved.
According to the data provided by Assist, out of approximately 4,500,000 people registered with Italian national sports federations, only 28% are women.
Furthermore, in the 100-year history of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), no woman has ever held the office of president, and only one regional committee is chaired by a woman.
Currently, only two of the 48 Italian sports federations have a woman as president, and the representation of female coaches, technical directors and managers on the staff of the national teams of the federations is disproportionately low: among the coaches, 80.2% are men and 19.8% are women.
Lastly, Assist revealed that data on the investments made by the various federations for women’s and men’s sports – in terms of scholarships, prizes, daily allowances, logistical organisation and national teams – still need to be obtained.
“Equality is by no means achieved and structural steps forward must be taken, together with entities such as Assist, which have been in the field for decades addressing these issues“, stated Assist President Luisa Rizzitelli.
“Especially regarding harassment in sports, we need a substantial leap forward, not just superficial changes. We need to enhance the skills of those within the sports community who are tasked with monitoring and addressing this issue, through the expertise of professionals in the field.”
Regarding the fight against violence against women and children, a landmark opportunity for progress is represented by the guidelines adopted in 2021 by the Italian federations. These guidelines require all affiliated sports clubs and associations to appoint a safeguarding officer capable of identifying and solving problems. Additionally, the guidelines provide for the development of organisational and control models for sports activities, as well as codes of conduct to protect minors and prevent harassment, gender-based violence and any other form of discrimination.
“We also urgently require a forum for dialogue within CONI to prevent situations like the recent distressing incident where Federscherma was called upon to handle an alleged case of rape involving its members” added Luisa Rizzitelli. “We must prevent situations where there are no adequate measures in place to protect the victim and suspend the activities of the suspects, particularly in such grave cases. In this regard, our association, with the support of Differenza Donna, is ready to provide any necessary assistance to clubs and federations.”
Sexism in sports is also an issue in the UK. Attitudes towards women in sports are changing, as evidenced by the level of interest and excitement for the Lionesses’ triumph in the 2022 European Football Championships. However, outside elite football, the current situation for sportswomen in the UK is still fraught with stereotypes and inequality.
According to a nationally representative survey conducted by Insure4Sport last year, one in ten people believe that the opinions of female sports pundits are less valid. A quarter of respondents admitted to never having watched women’s sports, and 45% expressed a preference for watching men’s sports. Additionally, 25% of Brits think male sportspeople deserve higher pay than women.
The survey also revealed that men are disproportionately engaged in sports in their day-to-day lives, with 82% of men having played a sport in their lifetime compared to just 64% of women.
Similarly to Assist in Italy, associations are advocating for gender equality in sports in the UK as well. Women in Sport has been challenging the system since 1984, offering solutions and inspiring change to ensure girls and women have access to fair and safe sports. Likewise, the Women’s Sports Foundation, established in 1974, aims to enable all girls and women to reach their potential through sports and physical activity by providing financial support to aspiring champion athletes.
The journey toward equality between women and men in sports is still long, but change is possible and already underway.
