Sports for Gender Equality

The image of two torchbearers – for the first time a man and a woman together – lighting the Paris 2024 Olympic Games cauldron has benefited women's sports more than a thousand interviews, statements or newspaper articles. Because it is the strength of example that is important. And if that example is seen on TV by billions of people all over the world, it is even more valid. So says Charlotte Groppo from her office in Lausanne, with the strength of someone who faces the problems of gender equality in sports every day. She holds the position of Head of Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and attended the Master of Science in Economics and Management of Government and International Organizations at Bocconi.

"I had already completed a degree in international studies in Bologna," says Ms Groppo, "and I enrolled in a double degree in Paris with the possibility of coming to Bocconi in the second year. I was mostly interested in international cooperation and I wanted to have both a political and economic perspective on the topic." But it was at Bocconi that she focused on issues such as wage gaps between men and women and gender equality in a broader sense – all with an international scope. "Since I have both Italian and French nationality," she explains, "I have always wanted to get out of the national framework, to go further. As for my first professional experiences, I started working in a local public administration in France. After one year, I moved to the Ministry for Equal Opportunities, always dealing with gender assessment and research. That was my job for four years." Before her current position at the IOC, Charlotte Groppo has had many other roles: "I was Vice President of UN Women France, the United Nations body that deals with gender equality and women's empowerment, and then I was in charge of the G7 organized in France in 2019 for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, always focusing on gender equality issues." With the change of Prime Minister in 2020, she joined the cabinet of the Minister for Equal Opportunities, Elisabeth Moreno, becoming the advisor for gender equality issues. Then in September 2023, she joined the IOC. 

"In the sports sector, as in other sectors of society, we must continue to promote gender equality," she says, "especially in terms of representation in leadership positions. Regarding athletes, there has been a strong acceleration in this sense with the presidency of Thomas Bach, so much so that we had the same number of female and male athletes for the first time at the Paris Olympics. And then the inauguration ceremony with both a man and a woman was seen by 3 billion people, more than half the world's population." It is a powerful image that is highly impactful and, hopefully, highly effective. Because there are still many problems regarding access to sports around the world: "Girls play sports at a young age, then when they reach adolescence there is a sharp drop in participants. This is especially due to cultural stereotypes, such as the fact that they have to focus on studying, or for safety problems," says Ms Groppo. Another relevant issue is that of women coaches, too few compared to their male counterparts: "In Paris 13% of coaches were women, the same as in Tokyo three years earlier. In Rio in 2016 they represented 11% of coaches. This is a figure that is substantially struggling to grow. We are working to convince women who were athletes to become coaches, but we know that women have difficulty balancing their private and professional lives, and working as a coach is initially a sort of second job." The success of a sport – and in this case women's sports in general – largely depends on its visibility. The role of the media is decisive in this: "The more a sport is broadcast on television, the more people watch it and the more people then play that sport. As a result, investments also increase." So it is a virtuous cycle that must be fueled. "Exactly. We worked a lot during the Olympics on the sports program, making sure to alternate between men's and women's sports at the most favorable times for television." In addition to this, Charlotte Groppo's work is more wide-ranging: "To achieve results we have to work together with all the stakeholders. I work with a variety of different organizations: colleagues from the other departments at the IOC; Organizing Committees, such as the Milano-Cortina 2026 Foundation; National Olympic Committees, such as CONI; International Sports Federations; and large international organizations, such as the Council of Europe and the United Nations. Part of our aim is to push the fact that sports are a true vehicle for sustainable development and gender equality."