The status of women in society has been at the centre of conversations for decades. The concepts of women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming, gender equality and gender equity have been identified as key drivers for promoting women’s quality of life (Malhotra, Schuler & Boender, 2002). According to the World Bank (Malhotra, et al., 2002), the promotion of women’s empowerment as a development goal is based on a dual argument: that social justice is an important aspect of human welfare and is intrinsically worth pursuing and that women’s empowerment is a means to other ends (including access to equitable sport and physical activity opportunities). The increased emphasis on the position of women during the last two decades has now been embedded in the broader context of global development and should not be regarded as an isolated effort. It builds on considerable international consensus relative to women’s position that has developed since the World Population Conference in Bucharest in 1974 (United Nations, 1974); the International Conference on Population in Mexico City in 1984 (United Nations, 1984); the World Conference to review and appraise the achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace held in Nairobi in 1985 (United Nations, 1985); the World Summit for Children in 1990 (United Nations, 1990); the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993 (United Nations, 1993) and the International Cairo Conference on Population and Development in 1994 (United Nations, 1994) with its resulting program of action. Rationales for supporting holistic women’s empowerment in society have further been articulated in policy statements developed from several high level conferences such as the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 (spawning from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing), the Beijing+5 declaration and resolution in 2000, the Cairo Program of Action (from the Cairo Conference on Population and Development in 1994), the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and the Convention on the Eliminations of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The common line of argument in all of these policy documents is that it is through the process of social inclusion of women that systems are modified and institutions and societies can be transformed.

The United Nations emerged with an important platform that advocates for women’s equality in society. Through its main legislative bodies, and especially the Commission on the Status of Women as well as the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), gender sensitive policies and approaches have been developed. It is not within the scope of this introduction to elaborate on all of the contributing policies and conferences, but three of them are regarded as seminal to the discussion. The United Nations Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action (1995) set as goals gender equality, development and peace and constituted an agenda for the empowerment of women. Twelve critical areas for priority action to achieve the advancement and empowerment of women were identified: women and poverty; education and training of women; women and health; violence against women; women and armed conflict; women and the economy; women in power and decision making; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights of women; women and the media; women and the environment; and the girl-child. The Platform for Action emphasised that women share common concerns that can be addressed only by working together and in partnership with men toward the common goal of gender equality around the world (United Nations, 2000).

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were born from the Millennium Declaration – an unprecedented global consensus reached in 2000 by 189 Member States of the United Nations. In the Declaration, these nations collectively undertook to advance a global vision for improving the condition of humanity throughout the world in the areas of development and poverty eradication, peace and security, protection of the environment and human rights and democracy. In particular, the advancement of women’s right to gender equality was recognised as critically necessary for progress. The Declaration pledged to combat all forms of violence against women and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It recognised the importance of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment as an effective pathway for combating poverty, hunger and disease and for stimulating truly sustainable development (United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2003). The Millennium Declaration renewed the commitments regarding gender equality made at previous world conferences since 1974. Eight of the commitments set out in the Millennium Declaration resulted in the MDGs: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development (UNIFEM, 2003).

The broad reference to empowerment of women and gender equality in the abovementioned policy documents is a cross-cutting concern for all sectors of society. A substantial body of work exists demonstrating gender equality/equity, or the lack thereof, in sectors such as health, education and economic participation from global as well as national perspectives (Doyal, 2000; Kabeer, 2003; Subrahmanian, 2005).

Parallel to these initiatives to achieve gender equality in sectors of society, involvement in physical activity and sport, and creating genuine access and opportunities for girls and women, has also become a widely shared goal on agendas of gender equality/equity. The global women’s movement over the past half century has developed the perspective that females are enhanced as human beings when they develop their intellectual and physical abilities. This assertion of women’s rights has served to solidify women’s interest in sport. A human rights-based understanding of sport and physical activity has been present since the founding of the United Nations. Within the established framework of human rights, a number of United Nations intergovernmental, international and national policy or normative frameworks on women, gender equality and sport have been developed. These policies, processes and frameworks have laid the foundation for the continuing efforts to achieve a just and equitable world of sport for women. The documents critical to the issue of equality in women and sport have been recently detailed (Kluka, 2008; United Nations, 2008). It seems as if the importance of sport and physical activity to women’s and girls’ physical, mental and emotional health is conceptually readily accepted in most societies in the world. The challenge, however, is to monitor and sustain progress and to create incentives for gender mainstreaming, equality and equity. These include, among others, initiatives of umbrella bodies campaigning for and maintaining gender equality and equity in sport, the number of women in leadership positions in sport, media coverage of women’s sport as well as changes in policies.

This feature, Women, Sport and Social Change, is an attempt to provide greater insight into the phenomenon of positive social change through women and sport. The authors have presented perspectives from a variety of countries the world, including the Australia, Norway, Oman, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America and Venezuela.

The status of women in society has been at the centre of conversations for decades. The concepts of women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming, gender equality and gender equity have been identified as key drivers for promoting women’s quality of life (Malhotra, Schuler & Boender, 2002). According to the World Bank (Malhotra, et al., 2002), the promotion of women’s empowerment as a development goal is based on a dual argument: that social justice is an important aspect of human welfare and is intrinsically worth pursuing and that women’s empowerment is a means to other ends (including access to equitable sport and physical activity opportunities). The increased emphasis on the position of women during the last two decades has now been embedded in the broader context of global development and should not be regarded as an isolated effort. It builds on considerable international consensus relative to women’s position that has developed since the World Population Conference in Bucharest in 1974 (United Nations, 1974); the International Conference on Population in Mexico City in 1984 (United Nations, 1984); the World Conference to review and appraise the achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace held in Nairobi in 1985 (United Nations, 1985); the World Summit for Children in 1990 (United Nations, 1990); the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993 (United Nations, 1993) and the International Cairo Conference on Population and Development in 1994 (United Nations, 1994) with its resulting program of action. Rationales for supporting holistic women’s empowerment in society have further been articulated in policy statements developed from several high level conferences such as the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 (spawning from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing), the Beijing+5 declaration and resolution in 2000, the Cairo Program of Action (from the Cairo Conference on Population and Development in 1994), the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and the Convention on the Eliminations of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The common line of argument in all of these policy documents is that it is through the process of social inclusion of women that systems are modified and institutions and societies can be transformed.

The United Nations emerged with an important platform that advocates for women’s equality in society. Through its main legislative bodies, and especially the Commission on the Status of Women as well as the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), gender sensitive policies and approaches have been developed. It is not within the scope of this introduction to elaborate on all of the contributing policies and conferences, but three of them are regarded as seminal to the discussion. The United Nations Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action (1995) set as goals gender equality, development and peace and constituted an agenda for the empowerment of women. Twelve critical areas for priority action to achieve the advancement and empowerment of women were identified: women and poverty; education and training of women; women and health; violence against women; women and armed conflict; women and the economy; women in power and decision making; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights of women; women and the media; women and the environment; and the girl-child. The Platform for Action emphasised that women share common concerns that can be addressed only by working together and in partnership with men toward the common goal of gender equality around the world (United Nations, 2000).

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were born from the Millennium Declaration – an unprecedented global consensus reached in 2000 by 189 Member States of the United Nations. In the Declaration, these nations collectively undertook to advance a global vision for improving the condition of humanity throughout the world in the areas of development and poverty eradication, peace and security, protection of the environment and human rights and democracy. In particular, the advancement of women’s right to gender equality was recognised as critically necessary for progress. The Declaration pledged to combat all forms of violence against women and to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It recognised the importance of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment as an effective pathway for combating poverty, hunger and disease and for stimulating truly sustainable development (United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2003). The Millennium Declaration renewed the commitments regarding gender equality made at previous world conferences since 1974. Eight of the commitments set out in the Millennium Declaration resulted in the MDGs: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development (UNIFEM, 2003).

The broad reference to empowerment of women and gender equality in the abovementioned policy documents is a cross-cutting concern for all sectors of society. A substantial body of work exists demonstrating gender equality/equity, or the lack thereof, in sectors such as health, education and economic participation from global as well as national perspectives (Doyal, 2000; Kabeer, 2003; Subrahmanian, 2005).

Parallel to these initiatives to achieve gender equality in sectors of society, involvement in physical activity and sport, and creating genuine access and opportunities for girls and women, has also become a widely shared goal on agendas of gender equality/equity. The global women’s movement over the past half century has developed the perspective that females are enhanced as human beings when they develop their intellectual and physical abilities. This assertion of women’s rights has served to solidify women’s interest in sport. A human rights-based understanding of sport and physical activity has been present since the founding of the United Nations. Within the established framework of human rights, a number of United Nations intergovernmental, international and national policy or normative frameworks on women, gender equality and sport have been developed. These policies, processes and frameworks have laid the foundation for the continuing efforts to achieve a just and equitable world of sport for women. The documents critical to the issue of equality in women and sport have been recently detailed (Kluka, 2008; United Nations, 2008). It seems as if the importance of sport and physical activity to women’s and girls’ physical, mental and emotional health is conceptually readily accepted in most societies in the world. The challenge, however, is to monitor and sustain progress and to create incentives for gender mainstreaming, equality and equity. These include, among others, initiatives of umbrella bodies campaigning for and maintaining gender equality and equity in sport, the number of women in leadership positions in sport, media coverage of women’s sport as well as changes in policies.

This feature, Women, Sport and Social Change, is an attempt to provide greater insight into the phenomenon of positive social change through women and sport. The authors have presented perspectives from a variety of countries the world, including the Australia, Norway, Oman, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America and Venezuela.