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Good practice Imported

More power to women in sports

Poland · Katowice · National · See the Poland profile · See the Katowice profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 22% 89/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

The Polish team at the Olympic Games - Paris 2024 consisted of a majority of women for the first time. Women athletes won 8 out of 10 medals for Poland. Taking the side of women in the fight for equal treatment, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism has prepared an amendment to the

8 of 10 medals
Medals won by Polish women athletes, Paris 2024 (2024)
30 %
Minimum gender representation on larger sports-association boards (6+ members)
More power to women in sports

Details

Promoter
Gaudete Foundation — website
Power domain
Political Power
Methods / tools
Gender Training
Region (NUTS)
PL22
Keywords
Women, sport, governing bodies, equal opportunities

Context

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Polish team had a majority of women athletes for the first time, and women won 8 of Poland's 10 medals. Building on this, Poland's Ministry of Sport and Tourism prepared an amendment to the Sports Act to strengthen equal treatment for women in sport.

Objectives

The amendment aims to guarantee women's participation in the governing bodies of sports associations, provide financial support to pregnant women and young mothers in sport, monitor equal opportunities through a dedicated spokesperson and proxies, and combat violence and discrimination in sport.

Activities

Key provisions include balanced gender representation requirements for sports-association authorities: boards of two to five members must include at least one representative of each sex, and boards of six or more members must have at least 30% men and at least 30% women. The amendment also introduces support measures for pregnant and postpartum female athletes and strengthens action against violence and discrimination in sport.

Conclusions

As described in the source, this is a legislative proposal rather than an implemented and evaluated programme; its effects on women's representation and participation in Polish sport governance have not yet been assessed.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — No budget figures are given; conservatively estimated as medium given that the amendment creates a monitoring function (spokesperson/proxies) and financial-support obligations for pregnant/postpartum athletes across national sports associations.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Legislative passage and subsequent board-composition transitions across sports associations would be expected to unfold over one to a few years, consistent with a medium timeline band.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Sport and Tourism (drafts and administers the amendment), Spokesperson and proxies for equal opportunities (monitoring function created by the amendment)

Conditions for success

  • Legislative passage of the Sports Act amendment establishing binding board-composition quotas
  • A dedicated spokesperson/proxy structure to monitor compliance with equal-opportunities provisions
  • Financial support mechanisms enabling pregnant and postpartum athletes to remain in sport

Where it fits

Governance type
national government / ministry
Scale
national
Income level
high-income (Poland, EU member state)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes CERV — Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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