Analysis of Government Policy Relating to Women's Sport

Abstract

The Women in Sport Report (WISR), published by Oireachtas (Irish house of parliament) in 2004, was of the view that women should have a central rather than a marginal role in all sporting activities. The report proposed 23 recommendations to improve women's positioning in Irish sports. From 2004 to the present time, there have been very few of these recommendations implemented. The purpose of this chapter is to analyse Irish sports policies and strategy documents in relation to women's sport in Ireland. Deploying a systematic, qualitative approach, predominantly the WISR document was analysed. The analysis revealed that proper evaluation and implementation of strategies must be considered to achieve gender equity in sports policy and that only 21.7% of the recommendations of the WISR report were met. It remains a glaring anomaly that women's involvement in sport in Ireland has, until very recently, been predominantly unchallenged, in political, academic and public sectors. Women's sport has rarely been a priority for policymakers and, therefore, regular and appropriate policy, underpinned by adequate funding, is essential for the further development of women in sport in Ireland.