International athletes, sports leaders and stakeholders met at Tottenham Stadium to address some of the barriers for women in sports reports Olivia Opara 

A global sports organisation brought together athletes, leaders and key stakeholders in Tottenham last month to share knowledge and form strategies to improve gender equality for young women and girls in sports.

Laureus Sport for Good held its annual global three-day summit at Tottenham Stadium in June, with international sports delegates from 42 countries gathering to discuss the barriers young women and girls face within sports and how the industry can address these challenges. 

Laureus Sport for Good currently supports more than 275 programmes in over 50 countries and is the charitable arm of Laureus, a global organisation that celebrates sporting excellence. It was founded under the patronage of Nelson Mandela in response to his challenge that “sport has the power to change the world”.

Throughout the summit, there were various panel discussions, workshops and breakout sessions in which different organisations and individuals shared their methods and practices of empowering young women and girls in and through sports. 

One breakout session was led by Justice Desk Africa (JDA), a human rights non-profit organisation based in South Africa that operates across ten African countries. During its session JDA demonstrated how it utilises boxing and self defence training in its ‘Mbokodo’ project that offers leadership, empowerment and mental health support to female survivors of rape and gender-based violence.

Edward Jacobs, advocacy and empowerment junior manager at JDA, told HCP that there is a big problem for women in sports in South Africa, which is the gender-based violence capital of the world. 

“There is a lack of funding for women’s sports and I think that a lot of it comes from the stereotypes that women are not deserving of participating in sports,” said Edward. 

“The [South African] government needs to do much more but organisations like ours can work with young women and girls and empower them to take part in sports; however, we are up against deep societal biases and issues.” 

Societal biases towards menstruation was a recurring topic of discussion during the summit as it has influenced the sport industry’s lack of accommodation and immense critique for female athletes. This was witnessed by triathlete Emma Pallant-Browne after she faced heavy online backlash after images of her period stain during a triathlon circulated.

Speaking on a panel, Racheal Grocott, chief executive officer of Bloody Good Period a London-based charity dedicated to period equality and breaking taboos associated with menstruation, pointed out how the lack of understanding of menstruation has led to a lack of understanding about how periods factor into performance and equally the the lack of accommodation for female athletes.  

“I think awareness and discussions about factoring it in is very important – making it clear to clubs and the sports industry that periods are natural and should be normalised,” said Racheal.

“It is about challenging that mindset about menstruating and bleeding as a taboo when this is the reality for half of the population.” 

Speaking on the same panel, Babalwa Latsha, the first African and South African female professional rugby player and Laureus Ambassador, added: “Menstruation is not a taboo and it is not something that you should be ashamed of. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful thing in the world and we should celebrate that.” 

Babalwa later shared with HCP some of the barriers she has faced since she first started playing rugby in Khayelitsha in Cape Town such as continuously having to prove that she and other women can play rugby and other sports. 

“The barriers are there for us to break which is why it is important that clubs and coaches encourage women to participate and to be steadfast,” she said. 

“I wish someone had told me to believe in myself, in my capabilities and in how sports would take me to places that I couldn’t even dream of.”

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