Edinburgh hosts sports equity seminar
Governing bodies of sport the length and breadth of the UK will converge on Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on Wednesday 6 December 2006 for a seminar as part of the ongoing Equity Standard support programme.
The aims of this seminar, hosted by sportscotland and the other four sports councils in the UK are to emphasise the importance of sports equity, whilst celebrating the success of a significant number of national governing bodies of sport that have achieved the Foundation or Preliminary of levels of the Equity Standard: A Framework for Sport.
“The Equity Standard is extremely important in ensuring the profile and the importance of equity in sport is recognised"
Attendees of the seminar will hear about Scotland’s wider Equity agenda from Cathy Peattie MSP, Convenor of the Scottish Executive Equal Opportunities committee and from mountaineer Jamie Andrew. Jamie who, despite losing his hands and feet in an accident, continues to climb throughout the world, offering inspiration and motivation to others. He will share with delegates his personal experience of overcoming challenge.
The Equity Standard was launched in November 2004, and is a joint initiative between the four home country Sports Councils and UK Sport. It aims to support the work of the sports sector by providing a framework for sports organisations to help them to engage with people from all backgrounds, break down barriers to participation, and promote more equitable practices in their sports.
The seminar will also showcase Scottish sport as a leader in the field of sports equity. This is demonstrated by the success of the Scottish governing bodies in implementing the Equity Standard with 9 of the 12 pilot sports having already achieved Foundation level and also by the high representation of Scottish governing bodies attending the seminar.
Speaking ahead of the event Julia Bracewell OBE, Chair of sportscotland said:
“The Equity Standard is extremely important in ensuring the profile and the importance of equity in sport is recognised.
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to participate in sport regardless of gender, race, physical ability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, and we hope the Equity Standard will go some way to achieving that.
“It’s encouraging to see that so many governing bodies have now successfully achieved the Standard and are committed to ensuring equity across sport, and we look forward to supporting the remaining governing bodies as they work towards achieving this.”