Following calls from the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Women’s Sport, both organisations have welcomed the fact that the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee has agreed to hold an inquiry into women’s sport.

 

Barbara Keeley MP Co-Chair of the APPG on Women’s Sport says:

“We have been calling for the Select Committee to hold an inquiry into women’s sport for over a year and therefore we welcome this announcement. The London Olympic and Paralympic Games were incredibly good for coverage and recognition  of the success of our sportswomen but one year on there are still many issues in women's sport that need addressing. This inquiry will help shine a light on what can be done to increase grassroots participation in sport by girls and women and how the coverage of women's sport in the media can be increased.”

 

Baroness Grey-Thompson Co-Chair of the APPG on Women’s Sport says:

“It is vital we don’t waste the legacy from London 2012 and so I welcome this inquiry as it tries to get to the bottom of why there are so many areas of inequality in women’s sport.”

 

Tim Woodhouse Head of Policy at WSFF says:

"Women’s sport at an elite level is in a healthy state with many of our teams and individuals regularly winning on the global stage.  In spite of this success, women’s sport still isn’t receiving the media coverage and commercial sponsorship it deserves. The numbers of women and girls participating regularly in sport are also still worryingly low and therefore we will be submitting persuasive evidence and recommendations for the Committee to consider.”

 

Both the APPG on Women’s Sport and the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation will be submitting evidence to the inquiry by the deadline of 19th September.

 

- Notes -

 

Details about the new inquiry can be found on the website of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Website here.

WSFF and the APPG on Women's Sport wrote to John Whittingdale MP, the Chair of the CMS Select Committee, asking for an inquiry in May 2012. More recently, Harriet Harman MP has also called for an inquiry after she held a roundtable discussion on women's sport in Parliament.