Following the Commonwealth Games Federation’s (CGF) summit in Edmonton, Canada last week, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and CFG joined together to reinforce their drive towards gender parity in sport.

Both organisations share similar visions when it comes to shaping the future of their organisations and promoting gender equality in sport.

A summit, held on 6 October in Edmonton, Canada, as part of the CGF’s three-day General Assembly, brought together sports leaders and stakeholders from across Canada and the Commonwealth’s 71 nations and territories.

Hockey is a strong sport in many of these nations, including Australia as the host of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

At the Summit, it was announced that for the first time ever in the history of a major multi-sport Games, there will be an equal number of medal events for men and women at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Seven additional women’s events and categories across Weightlifting, Boxing and Cycling were confirmed on to the sports programme.

Louise Martin CBE, Commonwealth Games Federation President, said on this occasion: “This is a significant step towards the realisation of the Commonwealth Games Federation’s vision for gender equality. I’m so proud that the CGF, GOLDOC, the Australian Commonwealth Games Association and our International Federation colleagues have worked together to close the gender gap in time for Gold Coast 2018 – and present an equal number of medal moments for men and women for the first time ever at a major Games.”

CGF has been looking to strengthen its partnerships with International Federations as part of their strategic plan ‘Transformation 2022’ of which many elements align well with FIH’s 10-year Hockey Revolution strategy.

Hockey already features a gender balanced programme in the Commonwealth and Olympic Games. However, one of the key goals of FIH’s Hockey Revolution strategy is to increase the degree of professionalism throughout all areas of the sport, which also implies to increase the number of female professionals and volunteers working in Hockey, be it on the field or in governance structures. 

Taking the example of top level sports coaching roles, women are generally still in a minority, but FIH is one of the pioneering international sports bodies leading the way in redressing the balance.

At the FIH Hockey Academy courses that ran alongside the Hockey Champions Trophies in London in June earlier this year, of the 64 participants, 19 were women, many of them coming from Commonwealth nations.

This is thanks to the FIH Women in Elite Coaching Initiative which helps FIH to bring women coaches into the spotlight so that more can follow their example.

The FIH push for more females in top roles goes back to March this year when it launched its Pledge for Parity campaign as part of International Women’s Day. The project’s long-term aim is to increase the number of females coaching within the top 12 nations.

Regarding Technical Officials at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio, FIH had one of the best gender balances of all International Federations (IFs), with a 50:50 split. Looking at the pure participation numbers in hockey, the sport is played by as many girls and women as by boys and men – be it at the recent Olympic Games in Rio, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, at regional, national or local levels.

Speaking about this shared vision, FIH CEO Kelly Fairweather said: “We are delighted that both our strategies are aligned in respect of gender parity. Hockey prides itself on being an inclusive, gender balanced sport, but we are making further steps to ensure women have greater influence in hockey. Seeing the support that other organisations, such as the Commonwealth Games, are providing in this area sends out a united message which our sport is proud to endorse.”

Gender parity will continue to play a hugely important part in both CGF’s ‘Transformation 2022’ plan and FIH’s Hockey Revolution strategy as both the Commonwealth Games and the sport of hockey strive to increase access to and participation in their events and sport.

For more information about CGF, visit their website.

Find out more about FIH’s Hockey Revolution on the FIH.ch.         

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