Cape Town - Ahead of International Women’s Day, Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Anroux Marais officially opened the two-day Women in Sport Conference.
Hosted by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, the conference took place at the Taj Reserve, Cape Town CBD, today (Mon).
International Women’s Day is held annually on March 8, celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
The department said, the theme “Break the Bias” will be the premise from which all discussions and resolutions will take place to progress the agenda of women in sport in the Western Cape.
“This conference, all those in attendance, the discussions, action plans and resolutions to be taken here in developing the first of its kind provincial Women in Sport Policy in South Africa is the epitome of this progress and for this I am eternally grateful,” Marais said.
“Let us become serious about our fight against inequality and inequity, the first of which is the marginalisation of women and the lack of consideration of their needs in the sporting environments we create.
“We have to create safer communities, more accommodating of the needs of women and the girl child for increased participation in sport and recreation. One which is more representative of our population with policies developed consultatively to safeguard, protect and uplift the often marginalised,” Marais said.
Gen-XX (Generation Female) CEO Tanya Roux said a major focus of the conference was on safeguarding athletes against eight critical elements, namely: anti-doping, discrimination, harassment, over-training, injury, match-fixing, grooming, and abuse (sexual and verbal).
