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Parks and Leisure Australia Vic/Tas were thrilled to hold our Fair Access Summit last week at Ikon Park, hosted by the wonderful Jacara Egan. Exploring the Fair Access Policy implementation 6+ months on and next steps in Councils journey, thanks to all 100+ of you who came along to the event.
A wonderful day bringing together leaders in local government to share and learn from success stories in gender equity and provide educational support to inform Councils next steps in implementing Fair Access Policies within their communities.
Thank you to the Councils, Universities, and sector partners who were part of this fantastic event bringing participants a unique mix of story sharing, education and networking. And to the Victorian Government’s Office for Women in Sport and Recreation for making this event possible through the 2023-24 Change Our Game Community Activations Grants Program.
Dive into the content from the summit below, where you can download presentation slides, access resources and view the photo gallery from the day.
Thanks to our Program Partners
WHY are we here and HOW has it been done so far?
Kate May, OWSR
The Office for Women in Sport and Recreation provided us with an update on implementation of the Fair Access Policy Roadmap – where are we now, what we have achieved, and where to next.
Cardinia Shire Council, Merri-bek City Council + La Trobe University
This study, conducted by La Trobe University in partnership with Cardinia Shire Council and Merri-bek City Council, examines the implementation and impact of the Victorian Government’s ‘Fair Access Policy’ on community sports infrastructure across two local councils in Victoria, Australia. It evaluates the effectiveness of these policies in promoting gender equity for women and girls in sports, while also aligning with the Australian Gender Equality Act 2020.
Merri-bek City Council – Christina Grayland
Merri-bek City Council has long had an allocation policy for a community sport leading a bold and strategic approach to gender equity. In addition with the implementation of the Women in Sport Strategy, Merri-bek has reshaped how sporting infrastructure is allocated, ensuring women and girls have the access to optimal training times and infrastructure opportunities.
This session will take you inside Merri-bek’s journey—how policies were developed, what challenges were faced, and the practical steps taken to ensure clubs could successfully implement change. From the adoption of the Allocation Policy to the Allocation, the Active Women and Girls Strategy and beginning on the Female Participation Officer the session will share: Insights into policy development and implementation strategies and learnings; Practical examples of how to support clubs in fostering gender-equitable environments; Lessons learned from the challenges and successes along the way; Where Merri-bek is today.
Eastern Region Group of Councils – Danielle Calautti (Boroondara), Cesar Ortiz (Knox), Ellie Ingwersen (Yarra Ranges)
This presentation outlines the Melbourne East Regional Sport and Recreation Strategy Group (MERSRS) and the development process of the MERSRS Fair Access Policy. It focuses on the challenges and opportunities of the joint approach, Key achievements and successes, and an update on Implementation progress: six months and beyond.
GippSport – Michelle Harris
This presentation focuses on the learnings from GippSport and their work consulting across the Gippsland region on the implementation of the Fair Access policy. Challenges from a regional perspective is explored, along with key opportunities and examples of both Council and Club actions that have worked in practice.
WHO is researching this space?
Deakin University – Jordan Bakhsh
Sport organisations are increasingly adopting gender-focused initiatives to enhance women’s leadership representation, such as gender board quotas. This research project investigated how the Balance the Board Policy in state sporting associations affected community sport club leadership practices and policies. Thanks to support by the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, we interviewed 14 state sporting association leaders and 111 community sport club leaders. Our findings highlight the desired, inspired, and defensive organising that resulted from this state gender-focused initiative. Findings of the research will be shared during the presentation along with important insights for how state sporting associations and local councils can help enable community sport clubs to enhance their representation of women leaders.
*Presentation Slides not suitable for sharing
- Research findings (including the visual map presented) will be published soon in an open access journal, which we can share the link once its available online
- Practical implications will be available via the Change Our Game Report, scheduled to be released in the coming month(s), which we can also share once its available
Swinburne University, Dr Katherine Raw
he “Gender Diversity on Sporting Committees” research conducted by Swinburne University of Technology’s Sport Innovation Research Group explores the involvement of women and gender-diverse individuals in Boroondara’s sporting committees. The study reveals the benefits of gender diversity on committee dynamics and decision-making, while also addressing challenges like traditional gender roles and administrative burdens. It provides strategic recommendations for councils and clubs to promote inclusive and equitable sports governance, aiming to enhance community engagement and leadership diversity in local sports.
Victoria University – Kara Dadswell
his presentation explored “Shaping Attitudes: Exposure to Women Coaches and Officials Influences Perceptions” a research proejct that explored explicit and implicit attitudes toward women in coaching and officiating roles among children and their parents. This project aimed to investigate: Existing attitudes towards women as coaches and officials; Factors influencing attitudes towards women as coaches and officials; Differences in attitudes towards women as coaches and officials between children and their parents who have and have not been exposed to women in these roles.
*Presentation slides not suitable for sharing
Edith Cowan University + Monash University – Dawn Penney + Ruth Jeanes
The Monash University led ARC Informal Sport as a health and social resource project has evidenced the health, social and economic significance of access to informal sport. This presentation directs attention to gender equity considerations emerging from the project and now being further explored in a Healthway funded project at Edith Cowan University. Data is presented that points to barriers to informal sport participation being amplified for women and that can inform strategies to help grow and sustain women’s informal participation.
For publications and resources developed to date see here
RMIT – Ancy Gamage
The ‘Social, Accessible, Fun, and Equitable (SAFE): Active outdoor recreation for CALD women’ project, led by RMIT University in collaboration with Out Doors Inc., examines outdoor experiences of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (‘CALD’) women. The project employs a participatory action research approach to identify the benefits and challenges of outdoor activities for CALD women. It also seeks to identify conditions for inclusive, accessible, and culturally relevant outdoor programs for CALD women.
*Presentation slides not suitable for sharing
Monash Uni XYX Lab – Niki Kalms
This presentation explored Gender-Sensitive Design for Parks, Sport and Recreational Spaces focusing on learnings from previous work including the transformational YourGround work, and a new research project aiming to: Understand the spatial factors that contribute to women’s perceptions of safety and risk; Examine how different modes of active recreation influence women’s perceptions of unsafety; Reveal the influence of time of day and women’s perceptions; Develop benchmark for gender-sensitive design of recreational spaces and amenity across Australia; Cement the role of expert gender-sensitive design in improving perceptions of safety in parks and recreational spaces
YourGround VIC report: View Here
WHERE else can we get support?
OurWatch – Chelsey Taylor
Our Watch is the national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women. Our Watch works with businesses, governments and communities to drive long-term cultural change where people live, work, learn and play. They have a focus on working with sports organisations in driving the prevention of violence and promotion of gender equality. The presentation today explores the role of sport in preventing violence against women.
cmSport – Junior Melo
For 35 years, the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) have been working to ensure young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds have every opportunity to succeed.CMY established CMSport to support sporting organisations to engage meaningfully with Australia’s multicultural communities. This presentation provided an overview of cmSport’s work, approaches to managing complex change, and ways of partnering across industry.
Play By The Rules – Sarah Wheadon
Play by the Rules supports and empowers volunteers, administrators, coaches, and officials to address issues of fairness, and respect in community sport. It provides the resources, guidance and training needed to create more inclusive and safer environments for everyone.
This session will discuss how Play by the Rules can strengthen the Fair Access Policy implementation through an integrity lens. Utilising the revised Member Protection Information Officer program and eLearning suite, community sport volunteers can build their capacity and confidence to support more safe, fair, inclusive and equitable settings for all.
WHAT have we learnt?
Office for Women in Sport and Recreation – Rayoni Nelson
Rayoni Nelson provided an overview of the Sommunity Activation Grants – grants of up to $10,0000 are available to support community sport and recreation clubs or orgnaisations to deliver initiatibes that aim to increase participation and enhance gender equality in sport and active recreation. Grants are avaialble across three treams: 1. Participation; 2. Capability; 3. Community leaders. Since the program began in 2018, 580 grants to the value of more than $2.9 million have been awarded to community sport and active recreation clubs and organisations across Victoria.
Parks and Leisure Australia Vic/Tas – Mel Pratt
We were lucky enough to debut a BRAND NEW resource from the Australian Sports Commission – the Women and Girls in Sport module as part of Game Plan. Game Plan is a free online platform that allows sporting clubs of all sizes to get insights into their current capability in key areas of club administration, then supports ongoing club development with a suite of tools. Clubs assess and evaluate their own environment, identifying their unique strengths and potential areas for improvement. Volunteers are the heart of every club. Game Plan makes it easy for club leaders to assess and analyse information about holistic club operations, to make good immediate decisions whilst developing clear plans for the club’s future. Over 3,000 Australian sporting clubs across 78 different sports are gaining key development and capability growth through their use of Game Plan.
