Women in Sport Week- Break the Bias (March 7th – 13th)

Women in Sport Week will kick off on Monday 7th March and Athletics Ireland are inviting all our members to get involved!

What’s the International Women’s Day 2022 theme?

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2022 is #BreakTheBias. Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough. Action is needed to level the playing field!

Marked annually on March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:

  • Celebrate women’s achievements within the club
  • Raise awareness of female experiences in athletics
  • Challenge change as a collective
  • Combat stereotypes
  • Launch a new initiative, network or programme
  • Influence positive behaviour
  • Highlight Role models, Visibility & Speakers
  • Fundraise for WIS activities/ charity
What’s the plan?

Athletics Ireland’s Women in Sport campaign is funded by Sport Ireland and aligns with their policy on Women in Sport which targets four areas – Active Participation, Coaching and Officiating, Visibility & Leadership and Governance.

Our aim is to deliver on a number of topics that are of interest to our members and we encourage everyone to have their say in the direction of this celebration for Women in Sport !

Details of Athletics Ireland upcoming events and workshops are below:

Date – Time – Event – Pillar – Registration
  • 7th of March: Coaching Research Launch – Coaching & Officiating
  • 8th of March: 6.30pm-9.30pm – Coaching Teenage Girls Workshop – Coaching & Officiating https://eventmaster.ie/event/d2ozFnGSwV
  • 9th of March: 7pm- 8pm – Menopause & Sport for Runners & Coaches – Active Participation https://eventmaster.ie/event/89xPc7qTV1
  • 10th of March: 7pm- 8pm – Lessons in Leadership – A Panel Discussion – Leadership & Governance https://eventmaster.ie/event/kwl1IK2TA2
  • 11th of March: Officials Network Launch – Coaching & Officiating
  • 12th of March: International Women’s Day parkrun celebration (Including 5th of March) – Active Participation
How can you get involved?

Attached are a number of activities that may inspire your club to take and #BreakTheBias.

The following document highlights a number of club activities that have previously taken place celebrating International Women’s Day.

This toolkit is free to download for clubs HERE 

Register your event HERE

As a club you may want to;
  • Put on a “Come and Try” session to engage potential new members
  • Host a training event for club members eg. skills based, learning etc
  • Run a club training session followed by a Women and Girls social event after
  • Start a programme such as Fit4Life during that week
  • Highlight female coach(es) / committee member(s) on your social channels
  • Highlight a male(s) within the club who is helping to engage more females in the club/supporting females in roles within the club on your social channels
  • Highlight and celebrate what your club does to engage and retain females
Members
  • Check out what your club is doing to celebrate this week and get involved and/or encourage your friends to try your club
  • You may want to share a story about an individual and/or club who’s been instrumental in helping you get involved or stay involved with Sport …whatever the capacity!
Event Organisers
  • If you are organising a female event during this week that we are unaware of or need promoting let us know!
  • Feel free to tag Athletics Ireland on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

If you’d like to share ideas or chat with our Women in Sport Officer about your potential plans or how you could get involved with this week, please email Lilly-Ann O Hora lillyannohora@athleticsireland.ie