ABSTRACT

The status of women in society has been at the centre of conversations for decades. The concepts of women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming, gender equality and gender equity have been identified through these conversations as key drivers for promoting women’s quality of life (Malhotra et al., 2002). According to the World Bank (Malhotra, et al., 2002), the promotion of women’s empowerment as a development goal is based on a dual argument: that social justice is an important aspect of human welfare and is intrinsically worth pursuing and that women’s empowerment is a means to other ends (including access to equitable sport and physical activity opportunities). The increased emphasis on the position of women during the last several decades has now been embedded in the broader context of global development and should no longer be regarded as an isolated effort. It builds on considerable international consensus, policies and declarations relative to women’s position that has developed since the World Population Conference, Bucharest, 1974 (United Nations, 1974); International Conference on Population, Mexico City, 1984 (United Nations, 1984); World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN (United Nations) Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, Nairobi, 1985 (United Nations, 1985); World Summit for Children, New York, 1990 (United Nations, 1990); World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1993 (United Nations, 1993); and International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994 (United Nations, 1994) with its resulting Program of Action. Rationales for supporting holistic women’s empowerment in society have further been articulated in policy statements developed from several high-level conferences such as the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 (resulting from the UN 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing), the UN Beijing + 5 Declaration and resolution in 2000, the Cairo Program of Action (resulting from the UN International Conference on Population and Development in 1994), the UN Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and

the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979. The common line of argumentation in all of these policy documents is that it is through the process of social inclusion of women that systems are modified and institutions and societies can be transformed. The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were born from the Millennium Declaration – an unprecedented global consensus reached in 2000 by 189 member states of the United Nations. In the declaration, these nations collectively undertook to advance a global vision for improving the condition of humanity throughout the world in the areas of development and poverty eradication, peace and security, protection of the environment and human rights and democracy. In particular, the advancement of women’s right to gender equality was recognised as critically necessary for progress. The declaration pledged to combat all forms of violence against women and to implement CEDAW. It recognised the importance of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment as an effective pathway to combat poverty, hunger and disease and for stimulating truly sustainable development (UNIFEM, 2003). The Millennium Declaration renewed the commitments regarding gender equality made at previous world conferences since 1974. Eight of the commitments set out in the Millennium Declaration resulted in the MDGs: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development (UNIFEM, 2003). Parallel to these initiatives, involvement in physical activity and sport and creating genuine access and opportunities for girls and women has also become a widely shared goal in global and regional agendas of gender equality/equity. The global women’s movement over the past half century has developed the perspective that females are enhanced as human beings when they develop their intellectual and physical abilities. This assertion of women’s rights has served to solidify women’s interest in sport. A human rights-based understanding of sport and physical activity has been present since the beginning of the United Nations. With the established framework of human rights, a number of UN intergovernmental, international and national policy or normative frameworks on women, gender equality and sport have been developed. These policies, processes and frameworks have laid the foundation for the continuing efforts to achieve a just and equitable world of sport for women. Selected documents critical to the issue of equality for women in sport are listed in Table 3.1 in a timeline that does not claim to be comprehensive, but provides a valuable overview.