The ninth International Working Group (IWG) Global Summit on Women and Sport continued in Birmingham yesterday, with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry urging sporting organisations to move beyond participation targets and focus on creating leadership opportunities for women at every level of sport.
Addressing leaders from across the global sporting community, Coventry reflected on her own journey from Zimbabwe to Olympic champion, describing sport as a powerful force for confidence, resilience and opportunity.
“Sport can help women and girls build confidence,” she said. “It can protect their health and well-being. It can develop leadership skills. It can create connection and belonging. And it can help them shape their own futures.”
Drawing on her own experience, she added that sport had given her purpose as a young girl in Zimbabwe, teaching her resilience and demonstrating that “hard work matters, and that setbacks do not define you.”
Progress Worth Celebrating
Coventry acknowledged that the Olympic Movement has made significant strides towards gender equality over recent years.
She pointed to the achievement of full gender parity among athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the commitment to make the 2030 Winter Olympics the first gender-equal Winter Games. She also highlighted that women now account for more than 43 per cent of IOC Members and that half of the 1.5 million participants in IOC-supported community sport programmes since 2022 have been women and girls.
But she was equally clear that participation statistics alone cannot define success.
“These milestones matter because visibility changes expectations,” she said.
“When girls see women competing at the highest level, they can imagine themselves there. When athletes see women coaching, officiating and leading, they understand that their own journey does not have to end when their competitive career does.”
Leadership is the Next Frontier
Coventry argued that the next challenge is creating leadership pathways throughout sport.
“We still need more women coaches. More women team leaders. More women technical officials. More women in boardrooms and presidencies,” she said.
She also stressed the need to ensure women and girls can participate “safely and with dignity”, regardless of where they live or their background.
Her call reflected one of the strongest themes emerging from the Birmingham summit: that gender equality should now be judged as much by who makes decisions in sport as by who competes.
Coventry urged sporting organisations to set measurable objectives, invest in women coaches and leadership programmes, improve safeguarding and inclusion, and work in partnership with governments, education, communities and the private sector.
“No single organisation can change the conditions alone,” she said.
From Insight to Impact
One of yesterday’s featured sessions also demonstrated how those ambitions can be translated into practice.
Professor Fiona Chambers joined Lucy Mills, Founder of READY Sport Global, for a session entitled “From Insight to Impact: Rethinking Innovation in Women’s Sport.”
Rather than focusing solely on identifying barriers, the session explored how innovation can move from research and insight into practical action that creates lasting change across women’s sport. It examined where the greatest opportunities now lie, how the landscape continues to evolve and how organisations can innovate with intention to deliver meaningful long-term impact.
Professor Chambers’ inclusion among the featured speakers was further recognition of the growing influence of Irish expertise within international conversations around sport policy, leadership and innovation.
Sport for Business Perspective
Yesterday’s programme reinforced that the conversation around women in sport has evolved significantly over the past decade.
Participation remains fundamental, but increasingly the focus is shifting towards influence, governance and decision-making.
For Irish sport, Coventry’s message resonated with many of the priorities now embedded in governance reform, from balanced board representation and leadership development to coach education and safer sporting environments. The challenge she set was not simply to increase female participation, but to build systems that enable women to progress from participant to coach, official, executive and president.
That has clear implications for sports organisations, sponsors and commercial partners alike. For governing bodies, it places greater emphasis on succession planning, board composition and leadership pathways. For brands investing in sport, this reinforces the idea that supporting women’s sport increasingly means investing beyond elite competition in the structures that sustain participation, progression and long-term success.
As the summit continues in Birmingham today, the emphasis is increasingly moving beyond celebrating progress to demonstrating how meaningful, measurable and lasting change can be delivered across the sporting landscape.
That’s what we will also be focusing on at the 12th Annual Sport for Business Women in Sport Conference in December, with more details to follow shortly.
Lidl Ireland, the Olympic Federation of Ireland and Professor Fiona Chambers are full members of Sport for Business.
If you would like to be part of the Sport for Business community and see your organisation in our content, on our stages, and in the conversation happening every day around the commercial world of Irish Sport, email us today and let’s see what is possible.
Image Credit: IWG
ABOUT SPORT FOR BUSINESS
Sport for Business is Ireland’s leading platform focused on the commercial, strategic and societal impact of sport. It connects decision-makers across governing bodies, clubs, brands, agencies, and public institutions through high-quality content, events, and insights.
Sport for Business explores how sport drives economic value, participation, inclusion and national identity, and how your story can be part of ours.
Through analysis, storytelling and convening the sector, it helps leaders understand trends, share best practices, and make better-informed decisions. It positions sport not just as entertainment but as a vital contributor to Ireland’s social and economic fabric.
Find out more about becoming a member today.
Or sign up for our Daily Sport for Business Snapshot email bulletins to get a flavour of the material we cover.
Sign up for our News Bulletins here.
