By Cassie Worth
World hockey has ratified its own gender equality policy which aims to have a 50-50 split across its executive and committees off the field of play.
Last year it was revealed that the FIH had the highest female representation – with 37.5 per cent – of 10 of the biggest sporting federations, including football, cricket, tennis, cycling and the IOC.
According to reports, federations faced calls to have their funding cut if they were unable to address levels of female representation on each of their boards.
But in a meeting on Thursday, led by president Dr Narinder Batra, the FIH reiterated its commitment to reach a gender-equal representation and stressed the need for gender balance across all national associations.
Last year, the FIH formed a Women in Sports Committee as part of its #EquallyAmazing strategy to promote gender equality. It followed the Euro Hockey League, which was praised for taking club hockey “to the next level” following the introduction of EHL Women, a competition which will be played alongside the men’s finale and offer equal prize money.
The FIH Committee will now raise awareness about gender equality, inclusion and promote diversity in sports practice and governance.
FIH will be holding a number of webinars to promote gender equality, with the first one planned in November.
Meanwhile, the FIH approved the applications of Gambia, Saudi Arabia and Timor-Leste as provisional FIH Members. The applications of these three countries to become full FIH Members will be submitted to the next FIH Congress in May 2021.
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