New research revealed the level of violence against women and girls in sport needs to be given "urgent attention" by worldwide sporting organizations, according to Katie Falkingham of the BBC. Researchers studying gender-based violence in sport "believe the true picture of how widespread the problem is remains unknown and want sporting bodies to take action." Their study, commissioned by the Int'l Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG), found more than a third of organizations asked "had not taken action since they were last surveyed" in '13. Almost "a quarter of that third" said that they had not taken measures to address gender-based violence because it was "not an issue" for them. Elizabeth Pike, a University of Hertfordshire professor and one of the int'l team of researchers who carried out the study, said, "We think that gender-based violence is something everybody working in sport ought to attend to in some way. People are saying that it is something that needs to be dealt with, so for us, it's a priority because there is still, in some societies, this lack of respect for girls and women because of gender stereotypes" (BBC, 8/8).
