Ararat hosted a regional forum encouraging sports and recreational activity participation by women and girls.
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Representatives of sporting clubs and community groups from across the region, including from Horsham and Ballarat, attended the closed forum at Ararat’s Alexandra Oval Community Centre on Thursday.
The representatives met with newly appointed head of the state government’s Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, Dr Bridie O'Donnell, who is also a former world champion cyclist and rower.
There aren’t enough coaches, referees, committee members or presidents of clubs who are women.
- Dr Bridie O'Donnell, Office for Women in Sport and Recreation
Dr O’Donnell said her position was unique in Australia.
“The office was established to implement the nine recommendations of the inquiry into women and girls in sport and active recreation in 2015,” she said.
“In those recommendations there were guideline son how to improve cultures, change environments and showcase achievements and commit to increasing participation and equality for women across all roles in sports and active recreation.”
Ararat was chosen as a forum venue because of its regional location and strong sporting culture.
The forum will explore how local sporting bodies can work to further improve participation by women and girls in sport and active recreation, and also provide Dr O’Donnel and her team with feedback on how the Victorian government can better support local sporting bodies to achieve those goals.
Dr O’Donnell said that in regional Victoria, there were challenges with female participation in leadership roles within sports.
“That means there aren’t enough coaches, referees, committee members or presidents of clubs who are women,” she said.
“Sporting clubs and organisations provide the socialisation and community for so many people in regional Victoria, so it’s really important for us to hear those voices and hear what they need.”
Ararat was chosen to host the forum due to its central location within the Grampians region.
“Our intention in Ararat is just to have a very frank conversation with stakeholders about what they are already doing, because we know there are a lot of highly motivated and engaged clubs and organisations.
“Some of the others are still finding the best way to educate committee members and boards about how to attract more girls and women to regional sports.
“They might also have the same challenges of many regions where many girls are taking up football and cricket and they are having challenges with allocation fields, grounds and courts.”
An expert on grants for female-friendly sports infrastructure also attended the forum.
Dr O’Donnell said lessons from the Grampians region could be used to help sports clubs across Victoria encourage female participation.