Throughout the webinar and panel session celebrating Worldwide Ladies’s Day 2022, we outlined our intention to deal with the gender imbalance in desk tennis by setting the longer term ambition of reaching gender parity.
51%* of the inhabitants within the UK are feminine however as a sport solely 12% of members, 17% of coaches and three% of membership or league Chairs are feminine.
To attain gender parity, we could have an unapologetic focus on growing the numbers of girls and ladies concerned, and making desk tennis an area the place ladies and ladies really feel welcomed, valued, seen and have the chance to progress. This will likely be aligned with the objectives set out within the Stage the Desk technique to diversify the game.
Desk Tennis England’s Nationwide Participation Supervisor, Jenny Leach, has been main on the ladies and ladies work.
She stated: “Firstly, I wish to thank the 4 implausible ladies who had been concerned with our #breakthebias panel dialogue. In case you haven’t seen it but I’d urge you to catch up and listen to about totally different lived experiences within the sport
“There was an actual shift up to now yr in golf equipment and leagues wanting to extend the variety of Ladies and Women of their golf equipment or leagues. These tasks have proven how impactful creating female-only alternatives and the fitting affords will be. I look ahead to constructing extra on this and creating extra feminine solely areas and alternatives throughout England.
“The largest problem we face when wanting to extend the variety of ladies and ladies within the sport is knowing the boundaries and easy methods to overcome them. A technique we now have lately aimed to do that is to profit gamers at competitions. We now have elevated the flexibleness in what clothes will be worn at competitions and eliminated the necessity for approval from the referee. When competing, the one factor a participant ought to fear about is placing their greatest efficiency on the market, not feeling uncomfortable in what they’re carrying. Following the rule change domestically, Desk Tennis England put ahead a proposition to the ITTF AGM for discussions and debate to start out internationally as regards to the foundations set out for alternative of clothes, which was unanimously handed.
“Trying to the longer term, I hope that you’ll assist and decide to becoming a member of us on making the game a extra welcoming and accepting place for girls and ladies.”
Greg Yarnall, Director of Improvement provides:
“By means of surveys and direct contact with our feminine members and girls concerned within the sport, we now have a transparent understanding that, for many individuals, desk tennis appears to be like and seems like an area designed and dominated by and for males.
“This doesn’t negate that there are ladies and ladies having implausible experiences within the sport and that there are golf equipment, leagues, coaches and volunteers performing some nice work to create inclusive areas, however we can’t ignore that there are additionally ladies and ladies having very unhealthy experiences and who’re being delay enjoying and collaborating. Our perception exhibits that females wish to have interaction extra in our sport and when supplied with the fitting alternatives, they do! So, gender parity will not be solely essential for our inclusivity agenda, however for the expansion, improvement and way forward for our sport too.
“Our dedication to ladies and ladies doesn’t imply that male participation turns into much less essential – we’ll proceed to work arduous to develop alternatives for males and boys too, however we should acknowledge the disparity that exists. We’re subsequently wholeheartedly dedicated to #LevelTheTable for girls and ladies and, going forwards, a a lot larger share of our time, funding and vitality will likely be directed in direction of growing alternatives for girls and ladies in our sport.
“It’s clear as a sport, that we must be ready to do issues otherwise to vary the narrative. We want everybody’s assist to realize gender parity and #LeveltheTable.”
We wish to proceed to take away boundaries to extend ladies and ladies concerned within the sport. If we wish to create female-only areas and enhance the variety of ladies and ladies in seen roles, we might want to enhance the variety of ladies within the desk tennis workforce.
Rewatch our Worldwide Ladies’s Day webinar and panel dialogue beneath, which outlines our future imaginative and prescient.
We may even offer 50% off Stage 1 teaching course to feminine candidates till seventeenth March 2022. To reap the benefits of this supply, please e-mail [email protected], letting us know the course you wish to attend and a reduction code will likely be despatched to you.
You possibly can see an inventory of present programs right here.
