Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Chair Kate Jenkins AO called for action at the AIS Women in High Performance Coaching (WiHPC) Showcase.

Below is the address she gave earlier this week.

“It is a great pleasure to see such a powerful and engaged group here to celebrate the progress of women in high performance coaching in Australia, share your expertise and to focus on what needs to happen next.

“I believe we are at a turning point.

“My goal for today is that everyone here looks back on this date as when Australia’s efforts to advance gender equality in sport really accelerated.

“In particular I would like to talk to you about the often-used mantra that “change takes time”.

“Over my life and especially in my previous role as Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner I was regularly entreated to be more patient for change because “change takes time”.

“I thought it is worth sharing with you today how much time has already been expended towards improving opportunities for women in sport.

“My lifetime traces the evolution of second wave feminism in Australia. It also traces the story of the Australian Sports Commission.

“Second wave feminism first arrived in Australia from the US in 1969, first manifesting as consciousness raising, educating women on their rights and opportunities through women’s liberation.

“This quickly moved to advocacy for structural change in Australia, which resulted in reforms in education, childcare, equal pay and domestic violence services.

“While I was conscious of inequality facing women in work in the 70s, it seemed to me sport was a place for women and girls.

“I had numerous female athletes role models: Shane Gould, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Tracey Wickham, Raelene Boyle. And both boys and girls had opportunities to participate in sport: I loved swimming, calisthenics, basketball, gymnastics, tennis and netball.

“In the early 80s, Australia witnessed significant reforms in sport, and for women. Rather than happening in parallel, these reforms went hand in hand.

“In 1981 Australia signed up to the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which included the requirement to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same right to participate in recreational activities and sports.

“Also in 1981, Australia established the Australian Institute of Sport, with 44% of scholarship holders being women athletes and women as head coach of two of the eight founding sports.