Committee on Women's Rights & Equal Opportunities	Thessaloniki, 7.3.2003
I N T E R N A T I O N A L     C O N F E R E N C E "WOMEN AND SPORTS" Speech by Mrs Anna Karamanou MEP, Chairperson of the Committee

In the light of the forthcoming Athens Olympics, today's conference is particularly important, since it is an occasion for us to consider the action needed in order to improve and increase the involvement of women in sport activities.

The Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities Committee of the European Parliament, considering the high importance of the issue, has named Ms Genevieve Fraisse, who is here with us today, to draft the first report of the European Parliament on women and sports.

I would like to particularly thank the Greek Minister of Culture, Mr Venizelo, for his prompt and positive response to my proposal to organise this international conference.

Genders have always been unequal in the long history of mankind. Women in the past, with few exceptions, were not involved in politics, economy, art and literature. The same also applied with sports. The progress of women in this field was made, slowly, since sports were always considered a male domain.

In the Ancient Olympic games, religious convictions and social structures did not allow women to participate in the games. They could not even enter the playing areas or the stadium as spectators. Olympia was dedicated to Zeus and was therefore a sacred area for men. However, women held their own games at Olympia. Dedicated to the goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus, these games grew out of traditional Greek fertility rites. According to some estimates these games even predated the exclusively male Olympic Games.

At the turn of the century, when the Modern Games came into being, much debate took place on the principles of women's participation. The founder of the Games Pierre de Coubertin, declared himself against women's participation expressing the opinion that if they could not play in every sport on equal terms with men, they should not be allowed to take part at all. This view was opposed by several International Olympic Committee (IOC) members, who supported the stand that women had the right to participate in the Games, competing in sports to suit their capabilities.

Women's sports began to emerge at the end of 19th century, when women became more socially and economically active. The first breakthrough in women's participation took place at the second Olympics, the 1900 Paris Games. It was here that Charlotte Cooper became the first Olympic champion by winning the Gold Medal in the tennis championship. The only other sport allowed at these games for women was golf. Although swimming was added to the program in 1912, this symbolic gesture to women's sport continued until 1924, when the IOC decided to open its doors for a larger participation of women in the Games.

Until the 2nd World War, no spectacular progress was made. Since then however, particularly, the last 30 years, the developments in society had changed people's concepts of women's capabilities in sport. The period from 1976 until 1992 marked an unprecedented advance in women's sport. This advance was characterised by a large increase in the number of sports offered to women at the Olympics. By the end of the 20th century the position of women in sport had clearly improved. In Atlanta the percentage of women athletes was 40%. Participation from countries such as Latin America, Africa, the Far East and the Islamic countries is still very low however. I would also like to make a reference to the participation of women in the paralympic games, who stands only for 25% athletes, according to the latest data obtained from the Games in Sydney.

If we look in the past, we can see that women’s sports were not as important as they are today and girls weren’t often encouraged to participate in sports. There wasn't any newspaper, radio and television coverage of women’s professional sports. Women did not have the opportunity to follow regular physical education classes and to play on sports teams, when they were growing up. There were many sports that were not open to girls.

People were not aware that being physically active was important to stay healthy. Women have become more involved in sports over time, such as the growing awareness of the importance of exercise to staying healthy. More and more is now known about the benefits of an active lifestyle for women and girls. Research shows that sport has a positive influence on the health of women and girls, including reducing the risk of illnesses, such as osteoporosis and heart disease. Famous female athletes of the 20th century helped elevate women’s sports to a more prominent level.

Despite growing participation of women in sport in recent years and increased opportunities for women to participate in national and international arenas, increased representation of women in decision-making and leadership roles in sport has not followed. It is worthnoting that women are significantly under-represented in management, coaching and officiating, particularly, at the higher levels. This situation gives cause for concern, as without women leaders and decision makers within sport, equal opportunities for women and girls can not be achieved.

The International Organisation Committee, concerned by women’s involvement in decision-making structures of sports organisations, in which they are still under-represented, set as an objective by 31 December 2005, the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), International Sports Federations (IFs) and sports bodies belonging to the Olympic Movement should establish as a goal that at least 20% of the positions in all their decision-making structures (in particular the executive and legislative bodies) are held by women. At present, more than 66% of the National Olympic Committees and 43% of the International Federations have achieved this.

In order to promote women as leaders and decision-makers in the sports activity, we need to:

-increase the number of women leaders at all levels of sport and physical activity

-support the personal and career development of women in physical activity and sports administration and management, while providing more opportunities for women to access these areas

-support the personal and career development of women at all levels in coaching, officiating, sports administration and management

-create mechanisms that ensure that young women have a voice in the development of policies and programmes that affect them.

-encourage the media to positively portray and significantly cover the breadth, depth, quality and benefits of girls’ and women’s involvement in sport.

-help achieve gender equity standards set by the International Olympic Committee in 1998.

As we approach the 2004 Olympic Games, let us transform the idea of women's participation into the most important message of the Games. So may the Olympic Games of Athens become a true celebration for mankind.