The Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (BOIC) is a partner of the Erasmus+ project “Guidance to Achieve More Equal leadership in Sport” (GAMES).
BOIC organised the National Launching Event on the 20th and 21st of April 2023. This was attended by relevant national and regional sports organisations, as well as policy makers, among others.
On the 20th of April 2023, the colloquium SheLeads was attended by more than 120 participants of which 2/3 were women. Most of the national federations were represented: hockey, swimming, rowing, gymnastic, cycling, basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, ski (among others.). The colloquium was supported by Valérie Glatigny, Minister of Education and Sport of the ‘Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles’. On the 21st of April 2023, the workshop 'Women in Sports: Unlocking the Potential of Leaders by Gabriela Müller' was attended by 30 women in management positions or potential managers at BOIC or at national federations. The workshop represented the start of the implementation of BOIC’s National Action Plan.
The National Launching Event presented the GAMES project, its objectives and its relevance. Accordingly, it aimed to present its main deliverables including the Baseline Study and its main finding on gender equality at the national level, the Global Pool of Actions and BOIC’s National Action Plan. Therefore, the current challenges in the realm of gender equality in leadership were addressed through open discussion/workshops which in turn allowed for the development of cooperation between relevant national/regional stakeholders.
The target group of the SheLeads were members of federations and anyone in the sports world interested in this topic. At this colloquium, the COIB showed that it wants to be an example in the implementation of concrete actions towards gender equality and wants to stimulate this trend in the sports world.
Notably, Ingrid Berghmans, Dominique Monami and Annamarie Phelps shared their experiences as keynote speakers. These interventions were followed by a panel discussion ‘Empowering Women in Sport’ in which personalities of the Belgian and international sports world took part. At the end, members of the Gender Equity Commission explained the National Action Plan of the BOIC regarding gender equity and invited all participants to share their suggestions.
With the workshop Women in Sports: Unlocking the Potential of Leaders, BOIC wanted to offer a unique opportunity for women to develop their communication and leadership potential and to share this experience with like-minded women. The workshop was given by Gabriela Müller-Mendoza, a well-known lead coach.
BOIC highlighted gender equality with those events. Indeed, both events were the first milestone for the BOIC to support gender equality in the Belgian sports ecosystem. Hence, the National Launching Event aimed to share BOIC’s National Action Plan whilst further promoting knowledge and information regarding the current situation and foreseen future actions in terms of gender equality in leadership positions. Besides, the National Launching Event served as a springboard to develop measures to promote gender equality in sport leadership in the national ecosystem whilst being a valuable opportunity to further encourage networking and cooperation among relevant stakeholders.
