| Go to Opening Speeches | Session 1: Gender Equality 15 April 2019, 09:30 - 10:30 | Go to Session 2 |
Caitlyn Kraft-Buchanan, Founder/Executive Director of Woman@The Table and Co-Founder of the International Gender Champions Network gave some background as to how she got involved in the gender equality movement and the purpose of these different initiatives. She went on to explain and provide examples of situations where gender diversity in the workplace and within teams had borne fruits providing a robustness to the decision making process thanks to the diversity and range of perspectives. She referred to the terms “hacks”, and how gender equality could be achieved through “hacks to the system” which basically entailed small changes to existing structures which allow and encourage gender equality. “Diversity brings you a perspective that brings strength.” Sabrina Ibáñez, FEI Secretary General, President APSO and member of the IOC Gender Equality Working Group shared relevant gender equality statistics from the international equestrian sports scene showing that on many fronts, the sport is a leader in this domain, but nevertheless, when it comes to governance there were big improvements to be made but this was not uncommon in the sports world. “NOC’S, IF’s all struggle with gender equality on boards and committees. IF’s with gender equality on boards have 70% higher success rate.” .
Mohamed Elsarky, Chairman of the British Equestrian Federation talked about the Diversity Action Plan which was launched in 2017 and the progress the British Federation and all their members had made following the establishment of clear objectives and targets. He emphasised how important it was to have a clear line of sight with strong leadership to drive change and overcome the gender bias which affects workplaces. He reiterated the need for communication, collaboration and shared goals with a common mind-set about the aims and objectives. The first question from the floor came from Danish Equestrian Federation President Ulf Helgstrand: “Since when is gender more important that competence? To which Caitlin responded: “Never, it is always competence first. There are many qualified women who don’t get the opportunity because the system is against them we need to address the imbalance in the right way.” Caitlyn concluded with a question to the audience asking them to think about what are the structural impediments to gender equality in their organisations and what structural hacks or tools could be implemented to balance the playing field? | ||
| SESSION 1 LIBRARY | ||
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