5th IOC World Conference on Women and Sport, The Los Angeles Declaration

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, The Los Angeles Declaration is issued in unanimity by the delegates at the 5th IOC World Conference on Women and Sport, whose theme was “Together Stronger: the Future of Sport”.

2. PARTICIPANTS

The participants represent entities of the Olympic Movement (the International Olympic Committee, National Olympic Committees, International Federations, Continental Associations, the International Paralympic Committee, Organising Committees for the Olympic Games and The Olympic Partners); the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment Women (UN Women); the United Nations Office for Partnerships; the Inter-Parliamentary Union; the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women; the International Working Group on Women and Sport; International Paralympic Committee, women’s organisations; civil society; and institutes of higher learning. Individual participants also attended.

3. BACKGROUND

– It is now 31 years since the IOC opened its membership to women, and 17 years since it fully implemented programmes and processes for helping women to systematically access higher levels of sports administration and competition.

– Since then, the number of female participants in sport has grown exponentially. The number of sports on the Olympic programme will

have full male/female parity for the first time at the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London.

– There will be two new sports at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro. The IOC has ruled that any new sport must, as a condition for consideration to be included on the Olympic programme, have events for both men and women. Both rugby and golf will start their involvement in the Olympic Games in 2016 with equal participation of male and female athletes.- It is acknowledged that many programmes have been put in place and resources committed to ensuring that women are trained and educated to stand for leadership positions. However, the number of women being elected has not increased at the same pace as their participation on the field of play.

– It is acknowledged that the 5th IOC World Conference on Women and Sport was attended by over 800 participants – the most ever.

4. Therefore, the Conference Participants Now Declare:

i. Consistent with the resolutions of the 4th IOC World Conference on Women and Sport at the Dead Sea, Jordan, more resources should be dedicated to developing women’s skills in management and leadership;

ii. That the IOC should revisit and review the minimum number of women to be included in leadership roles which it set for its constituents, and set up a mechanism to monitor and ensure that this minimum number is being respected. Recognising the importance of gender equality in sport, each International Federation should review its programmes for the Olympic Games and ensure that equality in participation is achieved;

iii. That the IOC and all the constituents of the Olympic Movement, especially the NOCs, International Federations and national ederations, should ensure that, for the 2012/13 and all future election cycles, they achieve a more equitable representation on their Executive Committees;

iv. Recognising that for these initiatives to be successful, the support of men and women is required, the IOC’s decision to link gender equality to good governance within the Olympic Movement should be adopted as policy by sports organisations and widely publicised;

v. That there should be greater collaboration and cooperation between all organisations and institutions which support the promotion, rights and welfare of women and girls;

vi. That the promotion of women’s participation in sports activities, management and administration should, and must, serve the wider goal of supporting the international agenda of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls;

vii. That the IOC must leverage its historic achievement of Permanent Observer status to the United Nations to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, especially as they relate to gender development and the empowerment of women;

viii. That the IOC should establish closer working partnerships with the UN and its agencies, especially UN Women, and share in the work of the UN Committee on the Status of Women in order to foster its own gender equality agenda. Similar partnerships should be established at local levels between national sports organisations, UN country teams and civil society;

ix. That the IOC and other international organisations dedicated to the cause should interact more closely with the Inter-Parliamentary Union in order for their message to reach, and be acted upon by, governments;

x. That the IOC should take the lead in establishing a platform for networking, thereby creating a place for exchanging and sharing ideas and good practices in the area of women and sport.

5. We Conclude By

a. Expressing our gratitude to the President of the International Olympic Committee for the support and resources that have made this conference possible and a great success. Furthermore, we encourage him and the IOC to ensure that the history that will be made at the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London, with women’s events being included in every sport, should be extended to ensuring that every participating NOC includes women in its competing team;

b. Expressing our support for the IOC’s policy to empower young people through the Youth Olympic Games (YOG);

c. Expressing our gratitude to the Chairman of the United States Olympic Committee and the Mayor and people of Los Angeles for their welcome and hospitality;

d. Expressing our particular gratitude to the Chairperson of the IOC Women and Sport Commission and the President of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and their colleagues, staff and volunteers, for the excellent organisation of the conference;

e. Expressing our gratitude to the Olympic partners for contributing resources for the successful organisation of the conference.

Together Stronger – the Future of Sport

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