Adidas Breaks Barriers with New Research Paper
August 16, 2024
Sportswear leader adidas has released its latest research paper, Beyond Representation: Exploring Comprehensive Gender-Inclusive Approaches to Elevate Women in Professional Sports. It was developed by global women's fund Women Win, the lead author, as part of the adidas Breaking Barriers project in collaboration with Common Goal and 17 Sport. The report’s launch follows the Paris 2024 Games which made history with its equal gender representation.
“The Paris 2024 Games and the many headlines and disputes about women athletes make this research feel extremely timely. The paper underscores the necessity of sports organizations to move beyond conversations of 50/50 women/men representation and to foster genuine gender inclusion in professional sports,” said Catherine Schulter, Senior Programs and MERL Specialist, GRLS, Women Win.
“By addressing systemic challenges and implementing comprehensive strategies across all levels of play, we can create environments where all people have the opportunity to thrive. This research reflects the work of a team of many and we hope it will accelerate conversations about gender inclusion and facilitate gender inclusion journeys of many organizations.”
The paper intends to help shape the sporting experience for women through collective action. It explores how stakeholders in the professional sport sector can implement gender-inclusive policies and practices that foster a genuinely inclusive environment for girls and women, moving beyond numerical parity and representation. Together, the partners worked with a mix of experts from across the sector to develop these insights, covering a wide variety of sports and expertise.
Overall, it examines the systemic change needed to achieve genuine gender inclusion in the sports sector, with a specific focus on how the professional sports industry can lead the transformation.
This new paper builds on the project’s previous research papers, More Obstacles than Achievements and Empowering Her Game: Exploring the Importance of Gender-Informed Coaching. Both reports explored the barriers to sports faced by women and girls on a grassroots level. This new paper offers best practices on how stakeholders can use their influence to create gender-inclusive and equitable spaces.
As part of adidas' commitment to champion equity, it created the Breaking Barriers Academy in 2020. The free gender equity training program provides an extensive toolkit of interactive activities, theoretical frameworks and insights from professional athletes and coaches. Adidas recently launched the newest Breaking Barriers Academy course, which advances menstrual awareness in sports after research showed that 25% of girls globally drop out of sports during adolescence.
In collaboration with experts in gender equity and sport, the adidas Breaking Barriers Project commits to breaking down barriers for women and girls across Europe to ensure that – from the locker room to the boardroom – all belong. The project is led by adidas and developed in collaboration with Common Goal, Women Win and Soccer Without Borders.
It aims to lead the industry in driving systemic change for girls and women’s sports, support and build the capacity of 15 sport non-profits to drive gender equity and inclusion and deliver safer and more inclusive programs. It also intends to empower 100 local role models (Breaking Barriers Champions) aged 18-30 to take capacity and leadership training to positively influence the lives of 50,000+ girls in local communities. The project currently partners with 12 sport non-profits represented by 75 Champions across Europe who want to create change within their communities.