2002 World Conference on Women and Sport

THE WINDHOEK CALL FOR ACTION

Progress and Lessons Learned

7.	Ensure a safe and supportive environment for girls and women participating in sport at all levels by taking steps to eliminate all forms of harassment and abuse, violence and exploitation, and gender testing.

Four years ago, issues of harassment and abuse in sport were not widely recognized, and were in fact often denied. While this is still the case in some parts of the world, these issues have been addressed and awareness raised through the collaborative work and determination of women researchers and activists from the UK, Norway, Canada and Australia.

Progress Made / Success Stories

WomenSport International (WSI)
Dr Carole Oglesby, President, WSI

WSI Sexual Harassment Task Force members have made presentations and published notable texts around the world in the past four years, including Spoilsport by Celia Brackenridge and The Dome of Silence by Sandra Kirby and colleagues. Dr. Sandra Kirby received the 2001 Breakthrough award from CAAWS in recognition of this, and other, work.

A major program of research on sexual harassment in the lives of elite women athletes, carried out under the direction of Celia Brackenridge (UK), Kari Fasting (Norway) and colleagues and supported by the IOC, the Norwegian Sports Council and other bodies, is also beginning to have a major impact.

Much of the work in the field of harassment and abuse has meanwhile been led by a group of feminist researchers and activists, including Celia Brackenridge (UK), Kari Fasting (Norway) and Sandy Kirby (Canada). In May 2001, the International Society of Sport Psychology hosted a symposium on sexual harassment and abuse at its Congress in Greece as a WSI Task Force event. As a result, the Journal of Sexual Aggression agreed to publish all the papers presented as a special issue in 2002. Meanwhile, a number of countries and international organisations have made significant strides in developing policies and programs to address these issues.

Council of Europe
The European Ministers responsible for Sport met in Bratislava for their 9th Conference in May 2000, and adopted the Resolution on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Women and Children in Sport based on several declarations, charters and reports. The background paper prepared by Celia Brackenridge and Kari Fasting and the resolution are available on-line at: www.coe.int/T/E/cultural_co-operation/Sport/Sport_for_all/Conference_of_Ministers/.

United Kingdom
Dr Celia Brackenridge, Independent researcher/consultant in gender equity and child welfare issues in sport

In 1999, after years of upward pressure and lobbying, Sport England (the government agency for sports development in England) convened a National Task Force which brought together key sporting and child protection agencies with the police and local authorities. An action plan was agreed upon and a Child Protection Unit was set up within the National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children. All agencies in receipt of government funds for sport are now required to have child protection policy and programs in place, and monitor their effectiveness. Education, information and support are provided, and Coach UK has provided workshops for over 8000 people in the last two years. Women working in higher education, sport and the voluntary sector have been the leaders of this significant progress in the UK, a good example of the ways in which women can influence sport culture for the better.

Lessons Learned
"No one bothered when it was just women - policies for women and sport, both in the UK and Europe, have not been as effective as they could have been in many countries because of the apathy towards gender equity. Child sexual abuse grabbed the media headlines in the UK and has probably done more for gender equity than all the previous policy work"4 (Celia Brackenridge, 2001).

Canada
CAAWS Board

Harassment and Abuse Prevention Guide and Web site
The Canadian sport community released a guide and Web site to assist sport clubs and associations in confronting harassment and abuse. The guide and Web site were produced through the Harassment and Abuse In Sport Collective, which represents 40 National Sport and Government Organisations, including the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA), Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), the Canadian Centre For Ethics in Sport (CCES) and the Canadian Association for Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS).

The Collective produced "Speak Out...Act Now!", a guide providing detailed direction and guidance for sport organisations and clubs to prevent and respond to harassment and abuse. Available free to the general public through the new Web site at www.harassmentinsport.com, the guide contains guidelines for developing policies and procedures; guidelines for responding to harassment complaints and abuse disclosures; an overview of provincial child protection acts, the Canadian Criminal Code and the duty to report; guidelines for the screening of personnel; and prevention guidelines.

The Collective also introduced the following resources:

"Abuse and Harassment Can Be Stopped" brochures, which define harassment and abuse, encourage athletes to speak out and tells athletes how to help a friend or get help themselves
Harassment and Abuse in Sport Web site (www.harassmentinsport.com), a composite site of the latest information on harassment and abuse in sport
"What Parents Can Do About Harassment and Abuse in Sport" booklet, which outlines the role parents can play in preventing harassment and abuse in sport
Kids Help Phone partnership, which is actively promoted by National Sport Organisations as the only 24-hour, bilingual national kids help line in Canada.

Australian Sports Commission
Debbie Simms, Manager - Ethics & Women, Australian Sports Commission

The Harassment-free Sport strategy is a risk management tool established to assist organisations in protecting themselves and their members. The strategy will work to decrease harassment, abuse and other forms of inappropriate behaviour in sport, to increase tolerance, fair play and safety, and to make for more welcoming environments in sport for all people, particularly women, Indigenous people and people with a disability. It aims to do this through education, and by developing a system to prevent and deal effectively and appropriately with harassment and abuse in sport. The Strategy comprises educational resources, model policies, model complaint procedures, educational seminars, skills training courses, on-line training, research, newsletters and advice. The educational resources are a series of eight publications that help individuals and organisations to better understand, recognise, respond to and prevent various forms of discrimination and harassment within their organisation, and include: guidelines for sport and recreation organisations, coaches, administrators, athletes and officials; anti-disability discrimination guidelines for sport and recreation providers; guidelines to address homophobia and sexuality discrimination and guidelines for protecting children from abuse in sport.

The documents are available from the ASC's Publications Unit or can be downloaded free of charge from the Active Australia Web site at www.activeaustralia.org - Harassment-free Sport Strategy.

In addition to these publications, other resources include:

Newsletter sent electronically to the trained harassment contact officer network, national sporting organisations and State departments of sport to share experiences and good practice and keep them up to date on relevant issues, opportunities for training, changes in legislation and new resources
Model anti-harassment policy that organisations are encouraged to adapt to suit their own sport (included in the Montreal Tool Kit)
Member protection policy template: a comprehensive model/template policy that incorporates child protection requirements and clauses to address other issues that sports have raised (e.g. parent and spectator behaviour, pregnancy in sport). The policy will include all the relevant forms required for police checks and other procedures and will hopefully be available by 2002.
Database that lists all the HFS trained harassment contact and complaints officers in Australia, accessed by sport or by State.

The ASC has also developed a series of educational seminars and skills training courses on specific harassment issues in sport, including:

Harassment Contact Officer (2 days) - Practical, interactive and experiential, this course enables participants to appropriately handle the receipt of enquiries, concerns and complaints about harassment in sport (first point of call). It is currently being renamed Member Protection Officer (MPO)
Complaints Officer (1 day) - This course focuses on mediation skills to enable participants to mediate a harassment situation to a successful outcome, either formally or informally. It is being renamed Member Protection Mediator (MPM)
Member Protection - Handling concerns and complaints from children (1 day) - This course reinforces the skills gained from the HCO course and looks at the different skills, issues and knowledge that participants need to receive complaints involving children.
Risk Management Approach to Harassment- organisational responsibilities (4 hours) - Aimed at CEOs, Directors, managers, presidents, administrators and other high level executives, this workshop discusses the prevalence of harassment in sport, including definitions and impact, legislation and how to take a risk management approach to the issue.
Harassment in Sport - individual rights and responsibilities (4 hours) - This workshop is about increasing the understanding of harassment, including what behaviour does and doesn't constitute harassment, its impact on individuals and organisations, and what an individual can do if they are being harassed.
Child Protection Legislation - A one-hour seminar on child protection legislation in Australia and the implications and obligations for sport.

Other issue-specific workshops to be developed include:

Child Protective Behaviours (2 hours) for people working with children (e.g. coaches)
Racial Harassment and Vilification (3 hours)
Homophobia and Sexuality Discrimination (3 hours)
Disability Discrimination (4 hours).

The ASC has also written numerous articles on harassment, discrimination and abuse issues in sport that appear either on our Web site or in sport industry publications. Some of the issue papers that appear on the women and sport Web site (www.activeaustralia.org) include:

Sexploitation - using sex to sell women's sport
Body Image and Participation in Sport
Sporting Attire
Transgenders in Sport
Gender Verification
Pregnancy, Sport and the Law
Harassment-free Sport.

Lessons Learned

We have been more successful in engaging a sports' interest and support in addressing sexual harassment and discrimination of women and girls by packaging them as issues that affect all of their members and society in general. We have found that using a combination of approaches has been most successful. This has involved providing statistics, research and information that appeals to a sport's moral values (their social and ethical obligations and duties), their business sense (risk management approach to reduce possible litigation, insurance, loss of members and reputation) and their desire to be seen as leaders or role models in sport (we promote sports that are proactive in this area as examples of good practice/leading edge management and get them to put peer pressure on other sports). Although women and girls are not specifically targeted by this approach, they are usually the main beneficiaries of proactive and preventative policies, practices and programs that sports implement.

Japanese Association of Women in Sport
Dr Etsuko Ogasawara, Executive Director, Japanese Association of Women in Sport

In 2000, the Japanese Association for Women and Sport (JWS) translated the 1998 sexual harassment guidelines published by the Australian Sports Commission into Japanese, thanks to a financial grant from the Asian Women's Foundation.

Lessons Learned
Although the business sector has begun addressing the issue of harassment in the workplace, the JWS felt that it needed to find a different, more subtle and indirect approach to introduce the issue of protecting athletes from sexual harassment in sport. Previous approaches in other sectors have led to very negative feelings toward dealing with this issue. It would be unwelcome to introduce these guidelines directly, and the JWS is developing a more "covered" approach in order to ensure real cooperation with both male and female colleagues. The Guidelines have not yet been widely disseminated; the JWS is waiting for the appropriate timing.

Norway
Associate Professor Berit Skirstad, Member of the International Committee of the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports

Successful lobbying, based on a strategic plan, led to the abolishment of gender testing by the IOC.

Lessons Learned
To believe in something strongly enough and make a strategic plan of how to reach your goal is important. Information on the "unscientific" standard of the test and the harm it could do was essential. Most people had never questioned why the test was carried out. It was important to have high officials in the organisation fighting on our side. Cooperation with the other Nordic countries, both the sport organisations and also the Ministries responsible for sport, made the protest stronger.

It was important to force the issue on the agenda of important bodies such as the IOC Athletes Commission, as well as on conference programs. The issue was raised at IOC's First Conference on Women and Sport in Lausanne (1996), the Second World Conference on Women and Sport in Namibia (1998), and the Third European Women and Sport Conference in Greece (1998).

France - Ministry of Youth and Sport (MJS)
Michèle Toussaint, Responsible for Women and Sport, Office of International Relations, Ministry of Youth and Sport

The health of female high-performance athletes is being addressed by the MJS. The medical exam for high-performance athletes, defined by the order of April 28, 2000, calls in particular for three exams. During these exams, the doctor asks the female athlete about any irregularity in her menstrual cycle. The dietary interview is now mandatory twice a year. Finally, in some disciplines (judo, swimming, cycling…) changes in female hormone levels are checked. These measures are a partial response to the failure of supervisors (coaches, doctors, etc.), and indeed of the athletes themselves, to show sufficient interest in the health of female athletes, particularly in the face of warning signs such as amenorrhea and eating disorders.

Preventing specific problems. Case studies and research has shown that all female athletes are potentially exposed to the risk of developing the "female athlete triad" (absence of menstruation, eating disorders, hormonal imbalances). Research on the bone density of female athletes, is currently underway with the cycling, swimming, football and skiing associations. The basic research is to continue with different partners: national institute of health and medical research (INSERM), national centre of scientific research (CNRS), department of health.

Increasing the role of women in positions of medical supervision is one element of better supervision and greater awareness of women's specific issues. For example, at the Tunis Mediterranean Games, in September 2001, no female doctors and few female kinesiologists were part of the delegation. Work is underway to address this area. As of 2000, there are an equal number of female and male medical advisors within the regional branches of the MJS.

Finland
Nelli Heinonen, Manager, Gender Equality, Finnish Sports Federation

In the Fall of 2001, the Finnish Sports Federation together with the Finnish Ministry of Education and under the supervision of the Council of Europe Sports Committee (CDDS) organised a European seminar under the title, "The protection of children, young people and women in sport: How to guarantee human dignity and equal rights for these groups." The seminar had two themes: 1) The physical and emotional protection of children and young people in both recreational and high level sport; and 2) Protecting children, young people and women from sexual abuse and harassment in sport.

Prior to the European seminar, a national discussion meeting was held on the important topics in 2001. The active participation of many member organisations in the discussion encouraged the organisations to develop their work in the area.

The Finnish Sports Federation is now preparing its action plan for the protection of children and young people in sports, including educational material and a survey studying the frequency of sexual harassment in the Finnish sports system.

Lessons Learned
Some conclusions made by Diane Murray, administrator, Council of Europe:
With respect to the protection of children and young people (18 years of age and younger) in recreational and high level sport, it was agreed that articles of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Child (signed by all countries of the UN except the United States and Somalia), applied equally to sport as to other areas. It was however noted that more countries were members of the International Olympic Movement than of the United Nations.

The Seminar worked with the following definition of sexual harassment given by the Netherlands Olympic committee and Confederation of Sport: "Sexual harassment is any form of sexual behavior or suggestion in verbal, non-verbal or physical form whether intentional or not which is regarded by the person experiencing it as undesired or forced."

It was pointed out that education at all levels - children, athletes, parents, coaches, trainers, governments and sports associations and federations - is the most cost-effective method of child protection. The problem of sexual harassment of women in sport, was now benefiting from the extensive attention paid to child abuse. Equity and ethics work - on gender, race and disability - is closely linked to the issue of child protection because discrimination, harassment and abuse are parts of the same continuum. Therefore, work in all these areas should be mutually supportive and reinforcing.