The UN Women Brazil and the Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) signed on Wednesday (14) an agreement for the promotion of gender equity and the empowerment of girls and women in sports. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed during SIGA LATIN AMERICA’s “CEOs’s Dinner”, hosted by Pacto pelo Esporte in São Paulo, formalizes the commitment of both parties to work closely together to promote actions and develop tools to enhance sport’s governance, helping to make it a safer, more inclusive, and equal environment.
UN Women and SIGA commit to joining forces and mobilizing partnerships with sports organizations, governments, civil society, media, and the private sector to advocate for better pathways for women’s leadership in sports. The aim is to achieve gender equity in the decision-making structures of sports organizations in accordance with SIGA’s Universal Standards on Good Governance in Sport. The parties will work with sports organizations for the adoption of gender-sensitive governance models and actions and will share knowledge about women in leadership positions in sport as well as develop products and tools to promote gender equality at the global level.
“Sport is a powerful tool to pursue the global goal of achieving gender equality and empowerment of girls and women. UN Women appreciates SIGA ‘s commitment to promoting equality and combating the historical gender discrimination in the sports ecosystem and is confident that this partnership will make a real difference in promoting access, opportunities, and full participation of women throughout the sports chain, in Brazil and around the world,” says Ana Carolina Querino, Deputy Representative of UN Women in Brazil, who attended the signing ceremony.
“It’s great to see UN Women shouldering with SIGA to promote the highest governance standards in sport, close the gender gap and create more leadership pathways for women in the sector. This partnership will strengthen the SIGAWomen Programme and is a key component of the governance work we are working hard to implement with sports organizations, both on a continental level, through SIGA LATIN AMERICA, and the wider SIGA platform. Gender equity is not only the right thing to do. It drives innovation and makes for better business. We invite organisations to give a step forward and join us,” said Katie Simmonds, Global COO, SIGA, Managing Director, SIGAWomen, Vice Chair, SIGA LATIN AMERICA.
The activities foreseen in the agreement include but are not limited to:
- Holding events and initiatives to promote awareness, strengthen capacities and advocate for equal access of women and girls to leadership positions in the sports industry in Brazil;
- The establishment of partnerships to build and consolidate a global network on gender and sport; and
- The joint development of knowledge products and tools aimed at promoting a more equitable sports environment.
The partnership between UN Women and SIGA began in 2022, when, during Sport Integrity Week held in Portugal, SIGA became a signatory to the letter of commitment of the Sport for Generation Equality framework. This reinforced SIGA’s deep commitment to implementing the gender equality agenda in the sports ecosystem by undertaking efforts to develop the Six Principles of Sport for Generation Equality, which include promoting women’s leadership in sport, preventing, and responding to gender-based violence, and eliminating inequalities in investment in women’s sport, among others.
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ABOUT SIGA
SIGA is the world’s leading organisation for Sport Integrity. We are creating a whole new landscape for the sports industry by delivering independent global rating and certification for world Sport to ensure it is governed and operates under the highest integrity standards: The SIGA Universal Standards.
Funded by our Members, SIGA is a non for profit global independent organisation with one aim: To ensure the sport industry is governed under the highest integrity standards so that the values of sport are protected.
SIGA is the only organisation to bring together sport, governments, academia, international organisations, sponsors, business, rights holders, NGOs and professional services companies, from every region in the world, around a common cause of fostering greater integrity throughout sport.
SIGA is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, as a non for-profit association, and comprises of the following continental subsidiaries: SIGA AMERICA, SIGA EUROPE and SIGA LATIN AMERICA.
For more information on SIGA, including its vision, mission and reform agenda, please refer to the website: www.siga-sport.com and FAQs.
To contact SIGA, please email: comms@siga-sport.com.
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