By 
13-03-2024
Innocenti Chiara
Europe Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence.
Strasbourg (FRANCE) – On March 8th, 2024, to mark International Women’s Day, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) hosted a Breakfast Roundtable on Sport officiating and Gender Equality, inaugurating a biennium rich in innovative projects and initiatives.
The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport – the Council of Europe’s sports coordination body – chose for the annual debate the Palais de l’Europe of Strasbourg, offering participants the option to join both online and in person. Moderated by Marie Denitton, office director at European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO) and Gender Equality Rapporteur for the Consultative Committee of EPAS (EPAS CC), the event unfolded in two segments.
The first focused on leading experts from the sports sector, who presented state-of-the-art initiatives aimed at achieving gender equality and featured female officiators sharing personal experiences of gender discrimination. The second segment, dedicated to identifying concrete measures to eliminate such disparities, involved panel discussions and informal coffee debates.
Among the most remarkable topics addressed were the Council of Europe’s ongoing efforts to promote equality, including the recent “All in Plus: promoting gender equality in sport” project. This initiative, launched in 2023 for the 2023-2025 period, represents a renewed collaboration with the European Union. It enabled participants to substantiate with data the criticality of the situation, also stressing how a new balanced conception of men and women can benefit the entire sporting community.
Gender discrimination and unequal treatment in sports remain pervasive issues that starkly contrast with the principles of equality enshrined in the European Sports Charter. While the Council of Europe has demonstrated unwavering commitment to the matter for over a decade, but this issue is so deep-rooted in Europe that it is far from being solved by the EPAS roundtable alone. The Breakfast roundtable served the purpose of reminding all countries, including individual athletes, coaches, and sports organisations, of their obligations to meet the requirements in terms of equality.
Sources and further reading:
(March 8, 2024). Promoting greater gender equality in sport: Roundtable on how to combat discrimination against female referees. Council of Europe. Retrieved on March 3, 2024, from
(October 13, 2021), Revised European Sports Charter. Council of Europe. Retrieved on March 3, 2024, from
https://rm.coe.int/revised-european-sports-charter-web-a6/1680a7534b.
(March 8, 2024). Breakfast Roundtable on Sport officiating and gender equality. Council of Europe. Retrieved on March 3, 2024, from
https://www.coe.int/en/web/sport/breakfast-roundtable-2024.
(March 1, 2023). What is All in Plus?. Council of Europe European Union. Retrieved on March 10, 2024, from https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/gender-equality-in-sport/about-all-in-plus1.
(March 8, 2024). EPAS 8 March Breakfast Roundtable. International Federation for Sports Officials. Retrieved on March 10, 2024, from https://www.ifso.sport/2024/03/01/epas-8-march-breakfast-roundtable/.
(March 8, 2024). Marie Denitton moderating a panel at EPAS Breakfast Roundtable on sport officiating and gender equality. ENGSO. Retrieved on March 10, 2024, from
https://engso.eu/marie-denitton-moderating-a-panel-at-epas-breakfast-roundtable-on-sport-officiating-and-gender-equality/.
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