SPORTING WOMEN
The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport, CAAWS, is doing something remarkable. They're not just talking change. They're working to make change.
At the IOC Women and Sport conference last month in Los Angeles, more than 800 delegates from 135 countries gathered to discuss equity and leadership in sports competition, management and media coverage. On the last day, Feb. 17, IOC President Jacques Rogge signed on to the Los Angeles Declaration, which recommends sport as a tool to improve the lives of girls and women around the world.
Rogge talks a lot of talk. Organizations like CAAWS walk the walk. An undercurrent of excitement pulsed through the downtown L.A. Live convention centre because of CAAWS and their practical-minded and valuable resources, which don't shy away from using bullet-points and checklists.
A member of the Association of Kenya Women in Sports was at a 7 a.m. breakfast workshop presented by Nora Sheffe, a master trainer for CAAWS.
Her ambitions were simple but achieving them was complicated. What did she want to learn? "How to strengthen the Kenyan woman, that is all. That is all," she said.
CAAWS provides the only material that she's seen with such a high level of detail and practicality, she said.
"Their teaching has so many points, which needs to be emphasized in my country. It is going to encourage and pull our women together, those who are interested in leadership, especially in sports. There, the culture is still a barrier and women, instead of doing what they ought to do or what they love, they will go to the kitchen. This is something for the world, it's not only for Africa or a specific country."
The extensive CAAWS resource library can be found at caaws.ca/e/resources.
