The Government presents seventy actions to promote equality, recognition and safety of women in the sporting field
BarcelonaMaica García is one of the best water polo players in the world. He has won all the titles possible with CN Sabadell and with the Spanish national team, except the Olympic gold, which he hopes to achieve this year in Paris. Despite this impressive record, his career does not receive the same treatment as that of his male colleagues. “We always encounter barriers and obstacles. We don’t have the same media or social support as they do. People need to be interested in other sports, not just football,” he complains.
The situation in Sabadell is not an isolated case. Since the beginning of the 21st century, women have increased their presence, visibility and recognition in the different areas of sport, but there are still many challenges to achieve equality, non-discrimination and the non-reproduction of gender stereotypes in the sports context For this reason, the Government has presented the Women’s Sports Promotion Plan in Catalonia 2024-2030, a document with seventy practical measures that want to count on the involvement of the sector.
A different plan, which runs away from theory
Anna Caula, Secretary General of Sport and Physical Activity, has explained that this plan is different from the previous ones, as it is not based on theory, but on action. “Until now we have worked to generate visibility and references, and now we want to open new horizons with a plan that has a real and tangible impact. These will be actions that can be developed by everyone, with the complicity of the sector to accelerate this momentum and make it stronger Catalan women’s sport. It is not about a magical action that will change the world, but about maintaining constancy. We are in a moment of change and it is in our hands to speed up the process,” he said.
The plan is based on five guiding principles: intersectionality, structural change, men as allies, synergies and specificity and transversality. The objectives are to promote the transformation of the governance of organizations, increase the participation of women in leadership positions and sports professions, promote the visibility of women in the media and social networks, prevent violence sexual in the sports field and create safe environments, increase the physical-sports practice among the group of women considering their diversity and improve the conditions of technical and performance sportsmen.
Three concrete initiatives in different fields
Within the framework of the Plan, the General Secretary of Sport and Physical Activity will carry out three specific initiatives in different fields. On the one hand, a new and pioneering study will be carried out on the abandonment of sport in adolescence to find out the reasons why girls, and also boys, decide to stop playing sport. “We want to have specific data and to know the specific reasons to be able to intervene,” said Caula. The Changing imaginaries in sport forum will also be held with participation throughout the Catalan territory and, finally, a multi-channel communication campaign on women’s sport will be launched.
Transform and shake
The impulse plan is part of the set of actions of the “legislature of women’s sport, with which we arrived to transform and shake up” this area and give it visibility. “Female licenses have increased by 20% from 2021 to 2023, but we are still far from the ceiling,” highlights Caula. The Government has multiplied the support for the clubs by eight, an accompaniment to reach more entities and to strengthen their structures.
Anna Rovira, gender and sport consultant and collaborator of the Social and Educational Research Group on Physical Activity and Sport (GISEAFE, of the INEFC); Susanna Soler, INEFC professor and GISEAFE coordinator; and Anna Vilanova, INEFC professor and director of the Catalan Sports Observatory, are three of the professionals who bring their professional and academic rigor to a plan that aspires to move from good intentions to real transformation.
