There will be 10,500 athletes at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, and for the first time in history, half will be women. Organizers are proud of the benchmark, which addresses more than a century of persistent inequality on the field.
But even as the ranks of athletes equalize, the thousands of coaches who lead them will still be overwhelmingly male. At the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo, for example, women held just 13% of coaching positions. The following year, women made up just 10% of coaches at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. The Guardian newspaper reported that the number is expected to be just 25% this time around.
That’s an Olympic-sized reminder that true gender equality can only be achieved when women have an equal opportunity to lead. Fortunately, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has the influence and tools to promote change. It’s time to do it.
