Page 748 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2018
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The government spoke extensively with women and girls and men and boys in shaping gender equity commitments. People at all levels of sport shared the view that we should take action on creating a greater profile and more online space for female sport. From that evolved a commitment to partner with HerCanberra, the new online platform. It was great to launch this new initiative late in 2017.
What the government’s investment has enabled is the promotion and sharing of local female sporting content like never before. HerCanberra has a large and growing audience, including in the key age areas where participation needs to grow. Each investment the government makes, each program and facility which is funded, contributes to the ultimate goal of better health, inclusion, participation and equity through sport.
Data tells us that, overall, females are more active than males in the ACT. However, it is important that we drill down deeper into this. When participation is broken down across age groups, young women from 15 to the mid-20s are less active than their male counterparts. Across the board, fewer women participate in sport, with a preference shown for more recreation and fitness-related activities such as walking and gym sessions.
Some key achievements already on the board include full funding for all election commitments related to gender equity in sport. This includes four-year funding agreements with both the Canberra Capitals and Canberra United; a further $1 million for programs which work to encourage and empower women and girls at all levels of sport over the next four years; $500,000 for female friendly sports infrastructure; $400,000 in incentive funding for sports to lead in gender equity; and $100,000 for a new female sport online hub at HerCanberra, which I recently launched.
The recent announcement of the 2018 sport and recreation grants program included more than $49,000 allocated to eight separate initiatives through our designated women’s sport and recreation participation and leadership program. This is a new program. It has never been done in the ACT before. I look forward to seeing the outcomes of that funding. Further programs are still under consideration.
These initiatives will roll out this year and include support for female coach development in Softball ACT and Capital Football, an inclusive netball project with the Tuggeranong Netball Association targeted at refugee and Muslim women, and participation programs through Pedal Power to educate and equip women from newly arrived communities to engage in cycling for transport and recreation.
I am looking forward to seeing what is next in this space. We will keep talking with the community and embracing the ideas as they are put to us. This government will continue to champion equality through the spectrum of community participation in sport. I thank Ms Cheyne for raising this matter as a matter of public importance and I thank Canberra’s amazing sports community for the work that they do each day to make sure that these goals are a reality.
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