Highlighting women in rowing on International Women’s Day

This has been a road that began in 1976 when women first got to row at the Olympic Games. When rowing joined the Paralympic Games in 2008, the number of each gender was equal. Along with all World Rowing events, the Olympic events have now followed suit to equality.

On the governance side of World Rowing work towards gender equality continues. The percentage of women participating in the World Rowing Ordinary Congress – participants include representatives of World Rowing’s member federations – peaked at 22 per cent in 2017 and more recently was at 18 per cent.

At the 2020 World Rowing Extraordinary Congress the women’s commission was voted to evolve into the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Commission starting in 2022. Along with this the structure of the Athletes’ Commission was redesigned to ensure gender balance. This aligns the Commission with current practice at the International Olympic Committee.

This year the World Rowing Executive Committee went from 43 per cent female representation (in 2019) to 50 per cent in 2021. For the World Rowing Council it has increased to 46 per cent representation for 2021. Of the 13 World Rowing commission chairs, seven of them are women. Overall 34 per cent of commission members are women.

The number of female athletes competing at World Rowing events has seen a steady rise in the last decade. With 2019 being the last full racing season, the numbers sit at 45 per cent female participation at the World Rowing Junior Championships, 42 per cent at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships and 44 per cent at the World Rowing Championships.

One area of weakness in terms of gender equality is the number of female coaches at the national and international level. This is recognised and strategies are in process to deal with this.

Choose to Challenge is the 2021 International Women’s Day theme. With the World Rowing Virtual Indoor Sprints due to start on 10 March, we choose to challenge everyone to do 1000m on the indoor rower. Choose to Challenge for International Women’s Day. More details: https://worldrowing.com/2021/03/02/join-the-craze-2021-world-rowing-virtual-indoor-sprints-in-partnership-with-concept2/