ITF Launches Advantage All Gender Equality Initiative on International Women’s Day.

The International Tennis Federation has launched a gender equality initiative on International Women’s Day titled Advantage All, which will feature tennis greats such as Billie Jean King and Lindsay Davenport. Through Advantage All, the ITF aims to improve gender equality in all areas of the game to ensure tennis leads the way in sport and society, while empowering, inspiring and enabling women and girls to reach their full potential.

Besides working on increasing the prize money and profile of women's tennis across all levels of the sport, the ITF's Advantage All is not only about delivering change on court. The ITF also wants to champion role models, create more leadership opportunities and challenge bias and discrimination, as well as provide a framework to drive change off-court too.

A 2020 ITF Female Leadership Survey identified a lack of female role models as one of the greatest challenges women face in their careers and hence, the ITF will launch a series of eight films featuring inspirational women discussing their own personal journeys in tennis next month. The series willl include three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport; Tennis Integrity Unit Chair and former Sport England CEO, Jennie Price; and Secretary General of Tennis Kenya, Wanjii Karani.

The ITF has also said that it is looking to increase representation of women on regional boards to 30% by 2024, while increasing the number of women standing for election at the next ITF Presidential and Board elections. Other objjectives of the initiative include increasing female representation in coaching and officiating roles; amending the constitution to include gender-neutral language; developing guidelines and toolkits to enable National Tennis Associations to create their own local strategies; and driving increased participation among women and girls.  

ITF President David Haggerty commented, “We have made great strides through Advantage All over the past couple of years, however, we must not be complacent. Increased investment and the awarding of equal prize money is extremely significant, but we must also make sure women are represented at all levels of the sport. We all have a role to play in creating a more inclusive environment, and I’m proud that tennis is continuing to lead by example.”

Fed Cup Global Ambassador Billie Jean King commented, “Fed Cup is leading the way by awarding equal prize money in 2020. Through tennis, we not only have an opportunity, but also a responsibility to drive positive change in our sport and in society. It’s important to be more inclusive and be role models who inspire more women and girls to play tennis and empower more women to take up leadership roles.”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3cHH5EU