Released just before the Olympic Games, it highlights persistent gender gap in sports and provides guidance for gender-transformative sport policies and programmes. 

Key Observations

• Sexual Abuse: 21% of women athletes (and 11% of men) reported experiencing at least one form of sexual abuse as a child in sport.
• High Dropout in Sports: 49% of girls drop out of sports during adolescence – 6 times higher compared to boys.
  • Factors for high attrition include lack of women role models, concerns around safety, lack of confidence and negative body image. 
• Inequality: Pay gap in professional sport is evident from absence of women in the list of 50 highest paid athletes in the world.
• Lack of women’s leadership: In 2023, only 30% of the world’s largest sports federations were chaired by women.

Four Actions Suggested by Game Plan

• Harness the power of sports to change attitudes through sport media coverage and tackle root causes of gender inequalities.
• Champion gender equality in sport leadership, governance and decision-making.
• Develop capacity and soft and hard infrastructure through gender-responsive budgeting and closing funding gaps.
• Commit to ending all forms of gender-based violence in sport.