11 October 2018

Progress for women in sport

National Party spokesperson for Sport and Recreation Nikki Kaye says the Government’s launch of a $10 million Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport today is a positive start but there is more to do to reduce inequity.

“I welcome this strategy but more needs to be done to ensure women are more highly represented in sport not only as athletes but also in leadership and governance positions.

“There are some promising initiatives in the strategy including a contestable fund which will seek some fresh ideas for getting more girls physically active however more needs to be done to look specifically at the disparity in funding in youth sport.

“Through my discussions with some organisations it is clear there are significant inequities in sport funding. One area of concern is the disparity in community funds that impact organisations like Netball New Zealand.

“Netball New Zealand represents 140,000 primarily female registered athletes and they estimate they receive a disproportionately lower level of funding compared to other codes that have high numbers of boys participating.

“The issue of disparity in sport funding by community trusts is a tough issue to tackle. I believe that there needs to be increased transparency of this funding so that we understand the extent of the inequities.

“I am aware that some trusts are making a huge effort to better understand the disparity at the community level but there is a need for this to happen across the sector.

“I congratulate the Government on the initiatives announced today. I look forward to working with the Government and the sector to make greater progress to deliver equity in sport.”

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