The European University Sport Association hosted an empowering webinar on gender equality in sports officiating.

The webinar, titled “Barriers to female officials in sports", held on February 27^, 2025, was an initiative of the EUSA Inclusion and Diversity Commission and addressed dynamics surrounding women being less likely than men to become sports officials.

The webinar was attended by over 70 participants from various countries and featured four great guest speakers, who shared personal experiences and stories of women in the sports officiating world, as well as the approach of different organisations regarding gender equality in sports and inspiring project on this matter, its results and outcomes. The webinar was moderated by Andrej Pišl, EUSA Projects and Policy Director.

Following the welcome speech by EUSA President, Adam Roczek, Andrej Pišl continued with a brief overview of EUSA’s efforts towards gender equality, mentioning projects and statistics from the latest EUSA events, that show the increasing numbers of women participants in the sports events, while sports officiating – despite the higher-than-average percentage of women officials present - still requires improvements.

Then, the webinar continued with the first presentation of Tom Webb, Associate Professor at Centre for Business in Society, Faculty of Business and Law at Coventry University. Mr Webb presented the results and outcomes of the WINS Project, starting with the reasons for its implementation and the challenges of the sector. WINS Project focused on gender equity in officiating by carrying out in-depth research on the challenges faced by female sports officials and providing actionable solutions to assist organizations in recruiting, retaining, and developing them.

The next speaker, Tihana Nemcic Bojic, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Zagreb and EUSA Futsal Assistant Technical Delegate, reflected on her personal experience of entering the world of futsal first as a player, and then as an official, highlighting the importance of the persistence and education in reaching her current position as a successful coach and official.

The session continued with Jamila Boulhimsse from the Female Officials Department within the Refereeing Committee of the French Handball Federation and EHF Delegate. She reflected on the female referees, focusing on the French Handball Federation’s approach. FHF works successfully toward parity and balance in refereeing, by mentoring, fostering partnerships and implementing various programs such as the Feminisation Plan, that aims to promote the development of women referees.

The final guest speaker, Pascale Weiwers, Basketball Coach and EUSA Basketball Technical Delegate, shared her personal story which includes over 40 years of basketball refereeing and being an official in the sports world, pointing out the improving situation of women in sports officiating in Luxembourg.

A dynamic question-and-answer session followed, providing attendees with the opportunity to delve deeper into the topic and receive insightful responses from the expert speakers. The speakers’ answers offered further perspectives, tools for challenging stereotypes, and additional examples of personal actions that have shaped them into the role models they are today.

The webinar was wrapped up with an address from the moderator, Andrej Pišl, giving a thank you to the great speakers, all the participants, and to the EUSA Inclusion & Diversity Commission who organized the event.