Cymru Women’s Sport responds to Women and Equalities (House of Commons) committee inquiry
In March, the Women and Equalities committee in Westminster put out a call for evidence regarding non-playing roles for women in sport. Cymru Women’s Sport responded to the inquiry with the following response.
Introduction
Cymru Women’s Sport (CWS) is a not-for-profit, charitable organisation dedicated to ensuring women and girls across Wales have equitable opportunities in sport.
Founded in 2022, we launched our first three-year strategic plan, Changing the Game at the Senedd in December 2025, and received Charity Commission registration in February 2026 (#1216970).
CWS are committed to driving change across Wales, advocating for a sporting landscape where every woman and girl has the opportunity to flourish.
We believe in the power of sport to empower, inspire, and transform lives, but this potential can only be realised when the system is truly fair and equitable, for everyone.
Advocating for change across the public and private sector is challenging without access to clear, publicly available data; without it no one can easily understand where we are now, measure progress nor hold organisations to account.
We thank the UK Parliamentary Committee for their Call for Evidence and support mechanisms to address all seven questions raised as existing barriers for women and girls’ participation in sport and recreation.
Our aim is to focus on the single biggest area of impact Governments can make to deliver visible and lasting change: to set clear and measurable targets tied to the equitable governance of and funding for sports participation, programmes and infrastructure for all women and girls in Wales.
Response to Question 3: Is enough being done to protect girls and women from harm, including harassment, abuse and violence, particularly in coaching, officiating and journalism/broadcasting? What further steps should be taken?
Recently in Welsh sport, we have seen several incidents which have been deeply disturbing and likely to put women and girls off pursuing any sport or sport-adjacent career.
During the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, the Welsh player Georgia Evans received heavy online abuse for her appearance on the pitch. Whilst Evans is a player, the abuse is symptomatic of a wider problem in media coverage and attitudes to women and their role in sport.
Abi Tierney, the Welsh Rugby Union CEO discussed feeling unsafe carrying out her role due to the abuse she faced on social media during the particularly difficult time in Welsh Rugby earlier this year.
Nia Jones, the former Welsh football international-turned broadcaster received sexist abuse for commentating on the men’s World Cup play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina in March 2026.
Wrexham AFC condemned misogynist comments after the women’s side claimed the Adran League title at the end of March 2026.
In a six-month period, in a country of just 3 million people, the number of these incidents show what a toxic and potentially unsafe space the sporting landscape is for women in different roles around Welsh sport. Whilst we recognise that social media is an international medium and there is little that can be done to stop individuals from stoking fear and division, male allies should take a leading role in supporting colleagues and all sporting bodies could publicly recognise the issue with misogyny which may stop or hinder women and girls from taking up opportunities in and around sport. There is also a strong argument for the widespread development and requirements tied to Government funding for anti-misogyny policies to be mandatory in sport organisations.
Response to Question 6: Should there be more requirements on sports organisations to increase representation of girls and women in non-playing roles up to Board level? If so, what should these requirements be, and how should they be enforced?
We would like to see sports bodies in receipt of public money being required to ensure their Boards are representative of the populations they represent, and in particular with gender equality. Without these perspectives, the sporting offering which is developed will not be informed by different perspectives, including those of marginalised communities.
Making real and sustainable change for the future means having the right people in the room to make decisions, to deliver long term and sustainable change. CWS want to see a diverse representation across all executive leadership functions from coaching to sports science, participation and talent pathways, administration and officiating right up to governing boards to advocate for fair and inclusive decision-making.
We are aware that in the last decade Sport Wales has required bodies in receipt of public funding to have a 60/40 gender balance, and that in their recently published Governance and People guidance, the ‘Arwain Framework’, this has been reiterated. (Gender parity is prioritised – the majority gender must not exceed 60% of the total board composition." , p.41) It lists 'board diversity demographic data' as evidence which may be submitted as part of the assessment (page 41).
Whilst we are supportive of the way this Framework sets out the need for a better balance, we would like to see more transparency from the bodies which aren’t meeting these criteria, and more monitoring publicly of these bodies, including any difficulties they are having in consistently recruiting female board members.
The support provided to female Board members is also important. We know through various surveys, ad hoc feedback and events, that women find more barriers to seeking and taking up board roles, from inconvenient meeting times to culture and mentoring opportunities. We know that Sport Wales does a great job of providing training opportunities for all board members, but there are many structural barriers to a woman even putting themselves forward for a board role, or thinking such a position would be open to them. We need a bigger conversation which supports women to think that their voice is vital around the board table in sports governance.
Summary While deliberate steps have been taken to address the diversity balance of Welsh sporting organisations since the first Gender Diversity Policy was introduced in 2020, it is not possible to understand the level of change given a lack of transparency in reporting of leadership.
It is our view that no one, including Government, can easily see the current picture, identify gaps nor recognise those who are making significant and meaningful change. CWS want to see greater accountability and transparency in reporting, to guide future policies, funding and investment.
Response to Q7: Are there good examples of progress towards equal representation of girls and women in these areas of the sports sector? If so, what could be done to disseminate and coordinate best practice across all sports?
We are aware of a number of National Governing Bodies in Wales who are specifically targeting equal representation based on gender.
Wales/Cymru examples include:
Criced Cymru – ‘A sport for all’ aims at widening access to the game of cricket and bringing children the opportunity to play cricket across Wales. The NGB also recently held its first women and girls in cricket conference, bringing people together from across the sport sector and to give opportunities for discussion around women-specific clothing and training. The NGB has also worked closely with Glamorgan Cricket to support the development and professionalisation of the women’s team by 2027.
Welsh Athletics - Their ‘own the night’ campaign has gained a lot of traction in Wales, highlighting the safety issues women face in running after dark. The campaign aims to raise awareness of safety concerns, empower women to continue running through the winter months with confidence, educate running communities to support women and ‘reclaim the streets’ around a campaign day in October when the clocks go back. Welsh Athletics have also recently held its second women and girls’ running conference, which this year built on the success of 2025 and featured high-profile runners and focused on things such as the menstrual cycle and menopause and their effect on running.
Football Association of Wales (FAW) - In 2021, the FAW launched their ‘For Her’ campaign and strategy which has seen a 50% increase in participation and a doubling of attendance at the Cymru Women’s national team matches. As part of the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro campaign, the FAW also supported investment from Welsh Government in the celebration of the women’s first major international qualification, a FOR HER fund to improve grassroots facilities, a EURO trophy tour reaching over 40 schools, clubs and communities and the creation of over 130 new U6-U9 level clubs.
Collaboration between the national sports councils and home nation women’s advocacy charities such as Scottish Women in Sport, Women in Sport and Cymru Women’s Sport.
Across the home nations there are many examples of good practice such as those outlined above. The challenge is disseminating these to a wider audience. Currently, the home nations share information and best practice through ad-hoc meetings of the Chairs of Cymru Women’s Sport, Scottish Women in Sport and Women in Sport. However, a more structured, coordinated approach to sharing and scaling best practice would help ensure that successful approaches are not isolated but embedded and adapted across all home nations, accelerating system-wide change.
This could include establishing a formal cross-nation forum involving national sports councils and women’s advocacy organisations to regularly exchange evidence, case studies and data on what works. Building on existing examples (e.g. targeted campaigns, leadership initiatives and participation programmes), this collaboration could be supported through a shared digital repository of resources, joint conferences and aligned reporting frameworks, enabling organisations to benchmark progress and learn from one another in a consistent way.
Internationally, in 2024 the Australian government’s sport funding and governance organisation, the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) introduced a policy to drive equity of leadership across sport and recreation.
Key elements of the National Gender Equity in Sports Governance Policy, are offered as an example to support change in the United Kingdom, including:
Aim: the policy aims to address the under representation of women in national and state level-sport leadership by 2027.
Short Timeframe: the policy requires the Australian sport sector to reach the following standards by 1 July 2027 (i.e. under 3 years).
Clear targets:
50% of all board directors are women and/or gender diverse
50% of chairs/deputy chairs are women and/or gender diverse
50% of specified sub-committee members are women and/or gender diverse.
Targets are consistent with the proportion of women and gender diverse people within both the Australian population and sport participation.
Reporting: organisations are required to report annually through the Sports Governance Standards self-assessment on their status against Gender Equity Targets and their systems that ensure gender equity.
Funding withheld: each jurisdiction (State/Territory) will adopt its own mechanisms to reach the targets and timeframes, with Government funding to be withheld from national organisations that do not comply.
Transparency: status of sports adoption of the Policy is publicly available online.
Summary - the adoption of transparent policy, reporting and funding is critical to making significant, sustainable change for women and girls.
Cymru Women’s Sport thanks the UK Parliamentary Committee for their Call for Evidence and looks forward to opportunities to work in partnership to develop policy which aids its core purpose – to drive equity for women and girls in sport across Wales.