Gender equality is a fundamental principle and essential aim for both the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Union (EU). The CoE and the EU are pursuing their co-operation in the field of gender equality in sport in the framework of the joint project “All In Plus” (March 2023 – March 2025). The EU High-Level Group on Gender Equality in Sport indeed highlighted the success of the joint EU-CoE project “All In: towards gender balance in sport” (March 2018 – October 2019) and stressed the need to develop and implement it further ("Towards more gender equality in sport: recommendations and action plan from the High-Level Group on Gender Equality in sport" (2022)).
The overarching goal of All In Plus is to highlight the benefits of greater gender equality in sport. The key objectives are to ensure that the relative invisibility of women in sport and the ongoing lack of awareness about gender imbalance in sport and related issues are brought clearly to the forefront.
The project is structured around three pillars:
- Data collection and analysis in six key areas (leadership, coaching, participation, media/communication, gender-based violence in sport, gender equality policies and programmes);
- Creation of an online resource centre containing best practice examples;
- Work with and through the media to ensure greater awareness-raising about gender inequalities in sport.
All In Plus was launched on 10 May 2023 during a day-long event (9.30am – 5pm CET) that brought together representatives of public institutions and the sport movement, as well as academics, journalists, athletes and other experts. A high-level opening was followed by four thematic panels, during which the speakers presented the situation in their areas of competence, discussed recurrent challenges and shared ideas and solutions to improve gender equality in sport. The documentary “A land shaped by women” was screened, followed by a Q&A session with film director and snowboarding world champion Anne-Flore Marxer. The event took place in hybrid format (online from Strasbourg, France).
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