With Council targets met four years early, gender leadership set to focus on technical officials and coaches

• 50% female representation on Council four years early

• 34% average female representation across the six World Athletics Area Association councils – up from 16%

• 40% female representation across international technical officials (ITOs) at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

• 20% female coaches at the World Athletics U20 Championships

In celebration of International Women’s Day, and to build on progress to date, World Athletics has announced its key focus areas for the next three years to empower women, promote sustainable change, and position athletics as a global model for equity and inclusion.

The World Athletics Council achieved gender equality in 2023, becoming the first Olympic sport to do so (50% female representation, up from 22% in 2016). All World Athletics bodies – including commissions, committees and taskforces – also now benefit from a minimum of 40% female representation (up from 15% in 2016). However, this has not yet been matched in leadership positions throughout the World Athletics membership.

There was 40% female representation across international technical officials (ITOs) at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Changes in World Athletics policy and approach – including a revised World Athletics Referee Education & Certification System (WARECS) pathway, online courses/exams, and minimum gender course requirements – have facilitated progression in female representation among referees. But there is still more work to be done in this space, notably supporting progression as at WARECS Gold level, of the 152 referees just 27% are female.

In terms of coaching, female coach representation at the World Athletics Championships was only 11% in 2023 (this is representative of other sports – at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games only 13% of all coaches were female). At the World Athletics U20 Championships female coach representation is higher at about 20% but given the gender parity witnessed on the field of play this is a disproportionally low figure, and a focus remains on increasing the number of female high-performance coaches at major athletics events.

To reflect the progress made to date and to recognise areas that require a greater focus, the Gender Leadership Taskforce has identified priority action areas for the next three years which include:

• Sustain and grow the pipeline of female leaders for decision-making positions throughout athletics

• Increase gender equity across administrators, referees and coaches

• Strengthen governance frameworks and initiate policy to embed gender equity

• Continue to raise awareness and promote gender equity through engagement and advocacy with supporting programmes and campaigns

• Develop gender leadership and equity-based education programmes and initiatives (aligned with the World Plan for Athletics)

This will build on the successful work done since the establishment of the Gender Leadership Taskforce in 2017.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “I am extremely proud of the work that World Athletics and the Gender Leadership Taskforce have accomplished over the past eight years. Athletics has gender parity in elite participation on the field of play, but we want this to be reflected off the field by empowering women and girls with equality of opportunity in leadership and decision-making roles across all facets of the sport.

“It is critical we continue to strengthen, grow and sustain an environment for female leaders to create access and opportunities to contribute to the growth of our sport.”

World Athletics Gender Leadership Taskforce Chair Stephanie Hightower said: “We are proud of the progress we have made so far to ensure sustainable leadership pathways for women in athletics, but we know challenges remain in achieving equitable gender representation among administrators, coaches and referees.

“It is clear we cannot create a one size fits all solution but by joining forces with leaders and organisations with expertise in this area we hope to change mindsets and make lasting change for women and girls in our sport.”

Through collaboration, innovation and data-driven initiatives, the Gender Leadership Taskforce aims to ensure lasting progress for women in athletics.

World Athletics