Australian Federal Sports Minister Kate Lundy "will launch a campaign" Wednesday night "to improve female representation on sports boards after reviewing damning statistics collected by the Australian Sports Commission," according to Nicole Jeffery of THE AUSTRALIAN. Lundy believes there is a "genuine appetite for change" on gender equity issues in Australian sport, and she is determined to take advantage of the mood. None of Australia's major professional sports has more than 25% female board membership, while the two sports with prominent national women's teams -- football and cricket -- "have only one female board member each." Only seven of the 55 national sports organizations reviewed by the ASC "have women occupying at least half of their board positions." Netball, primarily played by women, "tops the list" with 86%. Lundy is working with ASC Chair John Wylie "to establish a new Women in Sport unit to address the gender imbalance at the highest levels of Australian sport." She said the ASC met the requirement that government authorities should have women in at least 40% of board positions, and that would be a "worthy target" for national sports organizations (THE AUSTRALIAN, 2/27).
