2 minute read
Equality Statement
Helen Adams Non-Executive Director, Equality
The further development and growth of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Group over the last 12 months has helped to provide strategic direction and focus to Welsh Athletics. A key area of focus has been on data and insight, to not only better understand what the current landscape looks like and areas of development, but also to help to monitor our impact. We know from our data that we continue to have a 50/50 split in terms of male and female participation in the sport, and we are persisting with work to ensure this parity is seen in coaching, officiating and governance roles within the sport. Work is ongoing to improve the completeness of the anonymous data available to us on protected characteristics to allow us to focus our work.
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The Queen’s Baton Relay visited the Rhondda where Rhys Jones proudly held the baton
• 97.5% of members who responded to the Ethnicity question identify as White, compared to 94.8% in the Welsh population as a whole.
• 1.6% of members report having a disability [up from 1.5% in 2021] which is well below the 21.8% in the population as whole.
Clearly more needs to be done in terms of developing opportunities and providing an inclusive and accessible pathway across all areas of the sport from participation, competition, and workforce development. The sustainability and growth of the sport will depend on this.
Creating an inclusive and accessible environment in our sport is crucial, and as such education is a key theme for us in helping to embed equality, diversity an inclusion in all that we do. The number of members who identify as a different gender to that of their birth has doubled from 2021 to 20221, and work is ongoing with UK Athletics to implement the Transgender Inclusion in Sport Guidance published this year by the UK Sports Councils.
To support this work and help us to achieve our strategic goals, Welsh Athletics will continue to develop and work with other partners who have a shared vision on equality, diversity and inclusion. This includes working with Sport Wales in relation to the roll out of the revised Equality Standards in Sport Framework. We look forward to working closely with their designated delivery partner over the coming years to help us continue to grow and develop an accessible and inclusive sport.
