Leading the change: promoting gender equality

This self-assessment has been designed for Australian sport and recreation clubs that:

• Are male dominated and lack active female participation
• Have an equal gender balance of members, but are looking to create more inclusive environments for women in all aspects of their club

There are six different sections of the tool. As you answer each question, consider the evidence to support your answer.

You will be asked to respond to each question based on the following scale:

• We do this well: Our club consistently achieves this and has evidence to support this
• Needs more work: Our club sometimes achieves this, but more work is needed
• We don’t do this yet: Our club is not doing anything at the moment to support this
• N/A: This statement is not applicable to our club

The tool has been designed for clubs that are either male-dominated or have an equal gender balance of members but are looking to create a more inclusive environment for women.

For more information about the importance of promoting gender equality, view our fact sheet on taking action to promote gender equality.(PDF, 304KB)

• We recommend your club completes the self- assessment as a group during a club committee meeting.
• Consider inviting representatives from your playing group to be a part of the process.
• The self-assessment will take approximately 1 hour to complete; however, we encourage committees to allow as much time as possible to enable robust discussion.
• We recommend you complete all sections of the tool to ensure all areas of your club environment are considered

Throughout the tool, you will be guided to develop key actions to address areas for improvement. These actions will help form a club action plan.

When the time comes to develop your plan, refer to the resource ‘Next Steps: Action Planning for Gender Equity’ on this page.

This supporting resource has been designed to support your club to identify and implement key actions to promote gender equality and respectful relationships for women. 

Your gender equity self-assessment should have highlighted key strengths and areas for improvement relating to gender equality and respectful relationships for your club. We recommend your club use these findings to design a plan to make steps towards creating a more gender equitable and respectful culture. Depending on your assessment findings, and your club’s environment, these actions may be on a larger or a smaller scale. 

Actions could include:

• Encourage active female participation in all levels of your club, including the game, on committees and in leadership positions.
• Create a safe place for women to participate. Safely step in and respond appropriately to inappropriate discussions about females.
• Break down gender stereotypes. Encourage both women and men to take on roles outside of those traditionally associated with their gender e.g. have more men in the canteen and more female coaches.
• Avoid using gendered language or insults such as, “be a man” or “you kick like a girl”.
• Encourage all club leaders to model respectful relationships and respectfully challenge sexist comments.
• Include a commitment statement to model gender equitable behaviours in club policies, codes of conducts or position descriptions, etc.
• Reward respectful behaviour and manage disrespectful behaviour appropriately.
• Identify and encourage leaders in your club to lead this work.
• Discuss this topic regularly at club meetings.
• Consider applying for a Council community grant to enable funding for activities that promote equality in your club.
• Celebrate and reward women and young girls of all ages, abilities and diversity at the club.

Once you have completed a gender equity self-assessment at your club...

1. Raise and review your assessment results at a committee meeting.
2. Identify your priorities for action. Develop a gender equity action plan using the information from the self-assessment. A link to an action plan template can be found under "Part 4: Action Plan Template"
3. Seek committee agreement to carry out actions and set time frames.
4. Set annual or 6-month review of actions and record progress.
5. Celebrate your success! Promote your club’s journey and how you are working to improve gender equality at your club to the wider community. This could involve seeking local media attention.
6. Consider discussing your action planning process with your local Council or organisation who may be supporting you to use this tool.

Key Resources

The following documents are key resources to support sport and recreation clubs to promote positive change around gender equality and respectful relationships.

Stepping In
A bystander action toolkit for state sporting associations, to support equality and respect at work.

Everyone Wins
A toolkit that aims to assist clubs to build healthy and inclusive sporting environments.

Be the Change!
A resource for sporting club coaches on the role they can play to promote equality and respect between women and men.

Equality is the Game: Club Committee Resource
A resource with simple steps for club committees on how they can create gender equality and prevent violence against women.

This Girl Can –Helping women and girls get active
A guide if you’re part of any activity, club or industry body that could be getting more women involved in getting active.

An Action Plan Template has been designed to be used after your club has completed the gender equity self-assessment. Results from the assessment will assist in identifying actions for improvement which can be included in this plan.

Download the Action Plan Template(PDF, 907KB)

Please take the time to complete our short survey about the Creating a Place for Women in Sport Self-Assessment (CPWS). Your survey response will help us better understand how we can continue to support clubs and improve the tool to advance gender equity in sports.

Take the evaluation survey