March 6, 2007 (Ottawa, ON) – Since it was established in 1977, the United Nations has celebrated March 8th as International Women’s Day. This special day provides the opportunity to reflect on advancements in women’s equality, to assess the challenges women still face in today’s society, to consider future steps to enhance the status of women internationally, and to celebrate the successes in all of the areas. As many organizations around the world prepare to celebrate International Women’s Day this year on Thursday, March 8, 2007, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS) can reflect on a significant year of international involvement.

CAAWS is pleased to be able to take programs and best practices that have been developed here in Canada, and help other countries explore and expand gender equity and skill development in their own countries. Two CAAWS representatives will celebrate March 8th in Spain. Leadership consultant Nora Sheffe and Executive Director Karin Lofstrom will attend FISA meetings, where in partnership with FISA they will be conducting Gender Equity discussions with each of the International Rowing Association’s Commissions including Umpiring, Competition, Rowing for All, and Medical among others. FISA wants to investigate possibilities to be more gender equitable in a number of areas. As well, CAAWS will be delivering a Women and Leadership session and CAAWS information session to all the women who are on FISA Commissions.

Executive Director, Karin Lofstom also had the opportunity to present recently in February in Bermuda. Women and sport are currently a priority issue in Bermuda, and Karin was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Bermuda Annual Sport Conference. They are eager to learn from the Canadian experiences in these areas.

Lofstrom outlined why CAAWS feels it is important to share information at the international level. “Although in Canada we have seen significant progress in removing some of the barriers that have traditionally prevented women and girls from participating and leading in sport and physical activity. However, many of those barriers still exist elsewhere in the world. We hope to continue working on issues in Canada, and to share the progress with others, as well as to learn and to understand what challenges are still present elsewhere.”

Canada is seen as a leader around the world for women and sport, and the CAAWS Women and Leadership Program is a tangible tool that helps develop women leaders in both Canada and the rest of the world. Throughout this past year, CAAWS has been actively delivering workshops at the international level. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) invited CAAWS to deliver its Women and Leadership workshops in Kenya, Africa at a Paralympic women and sport conference. These workshops were also delivered as part of the Pan American Sport Organization (PASO) Women and Sport Committee Seminar in Mexico in June. CAAWS Board Member, Nicole Smith attended the Forum Femmes-Jeunesse-Sport that CONFEJES/GTCF in Morocco and presented on Effective Networking. The program was also highlighted at the International Working Group (IWG) Women and Sport Conference in Japan in May.

In addition, CAAWS has been able to use its position paper Seeing the invisible, Speaking about the unspoken to help people understand and discuss Homophobia in sport. Since the launch in 2006 of the paper in Ottawa, CAAWS has presented or held information sessions on the paper at the PASO Women and Sport Seminar in Mexico, the IWG Women and Sport in Japan, the International Human Rights Conference just prior to the Out Games in Montreal, and the CAC Sport Leadership Conference in Vancouver. Later in March, CAAWS will do a presentation at the Women and Sport Conference in Cleveland, Ohio Celebrating 35 years of Title IX in the US. (Title IX is the legislation which brought equity to sport scholarships for men and women in the USA.)

CAAWS has received interest from a variety of countries about the possibility of working together in the future. CAAWS looks forward to continuing to develop programs in Canada that can be used both at home and throughout the world to educate on gender equity and to enhance leadership development for women.