Advocating for Gender Equality in Sport: The Experience of the Women's Sports Foundation in the United States
As a user of WomensSportsFoundation.org, you are probably familiar with the Foundation and the work that we do. Every day we work tirelessly and successfully to increase awareness and opportunities for girls and women in sports. But how does the Foundation work? Donna Lopiano, the Foundation's former CEO, has decided to help answer this question by writing a new educational resource for people interested in running an organization that promotes gender equity in sports.
The following downloadable guide provides information on basic organizational structures, tools and vehicles for creating social change, sources of funding for the organization and ways to initiate change by leadership. This resource is not intended to be a book in the academic sense, but as Lopiano described, it is a practical “user manual.”
Five basic principles have guided the Foundation in the quest to bring gender equity in girls' and women's sports and, in the same token, could be kept in mind for any group advocating social change. These principles are: 1) educating the public with credible facts, 2) giving grants to aid groups in overcoming financial barriers, 3) recognizing the achievements made by female athletes with awards and honors as a strategy to overcome media barriers, 4) providing support empower organizations and individuals to undertake advocacy initiatives and 5) working with persistence over time.
Ensuring that an organization “works” is more complex than this, and comes after years of dedication from people at many levels. The Trustees, staff, volunteers, corporate partners and generous member/donors all have in common the shared vision of bringing the opportunity of sport and fitness into the life of every girl.