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The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Olympic Charter, which states that the role of the IOC is: to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women.

Throughout its history, the IOC has played an important role in promoting the presence of women in sport. In the last 20 years, it has defended their participation at all levels of sport, urging the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the International Sports Federations (IFs) to increase their presence.

Indeed, after 1991, any new sport included on the Olympic programme had to have events for women. The Olympic Games London 2012 allowed women to compete in all the sports on the Olympic programme for the first time. However, the Rio Games in 2016 established a new record in terms of women’s participation in the Olympic Games: out of 11,237 athletes competing, some 5,059 were women (i.e. over 45% of competitors).

To increase the number of women in decision-making bodies, the IOC has adopted various initiatives. In 1995, it created the Women and Sport Working Group, which became a proper Commission in 2004. In 1996, the first World Conference on Women and Sport was held, the aim of which was to raise awareness among the public of the role of women in sport. It is organised every four years. In 2000, the IOC introduced the Women and Sport Awards, which highlight the role models and initiators of change working on gender equality. More recently, forums and seminars have been organised, particularly, the Forum on Women and Sport for Africa and Asia in 2013; the International Women and Sport Seminar in 2015 in Warsaw, aiming to strengthen the participants’ management knowledge and skills; the first Forum for Women Leaders in International Federations (IFs); and the Forum for Women Leaders in Africa in 2016.

Lastly, an important milestone was reached with the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020 in December 2014. Recommendation 11 called on the IOC: “to work with the International Federations to achieve 50 per cent female participation in the Olympic Games and to stimulate women’s participation and involvement in sport by creating more participation opportunities at the Olympic Games”.