The Barbados Olympic Association Inc. (BOA) has announced the renaming of its
Women in Sport Commission to the Gender Equality Commission.
President of the BOA, Sandra Osborne, said that the name change, which took effect
last month, is in keeping with the 2022 decision by the International Olympic Committee
to rename its Women in Sport Commission to the Gender Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion Commission. Noting that the mandate of the BOA s commission is modelled
on the IOC’s, Ms. Osborne said the rebranded commission continues to support and
empower women while also advocating for gender equity in all aspects of sports.
“We have not gone as far as the IOC in that we have not added diversity and inclusion
in our name, but the change from ‘women in sport’ to ‘gender equality’ provides us with
an opportunity to strive for gender balance generally across the spectrum of everything
we do, while at the same time keeping our focus on redressing the fact that the
involvement of women and girls in Sport has lagged in some areas – not as athletes but
in leadership and technical areas,”the BOA president stated.
Meanwhile, the chair of the Gender Equality Commission, Marsha Boyce, explained that
the commission’s mandate is to promote gender equality in sport both on and off the
field of play.
“We do this through a wide range of activities, from our marquee event, the Esther
Maynard Icon Award, which recognises the outstanding long-term contribution of
Barbadian women in sport, to other initiatives that seek to empower women and girls in
and through sport. We will continue to advocate for equitable representation in
governance and leadership, the distribution of resources, and media portrayals, among
other areas”.
Gender equality is an important area covered within the BOA’s strategic plan, which
recognises sports’ role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The plan
advocates for women’s meaningful representation in governance and leadership within
the Olympic Movement and Commonwealth Sport in Barbados.
The rebranded commission comprises the following members – Marsha Boyce (Chair),
Mona Alleyne, Shawn Simpson, Ytannia Wiggins, Althea Belgrave (National Federation
Representative), Fabian Norgrove (Athlete Representative), Fabian Sargeant and
Vaneisha Cadogan (Non-voting).(PR)
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