Supporting women and girls in sailing

(March 8, 2019) – On 2019 International Women’s Day, the World Sailing Trust announced today it will receive funding for a project looking to support women and girls in sailing.

The project will explore gender parity across the sport and within the sailing industry and aims to promote diversity, make sailing more accessible and increase participation.

The exploratory phase of the project will look at the experience of children, young people and adults learning to sail, those sailing for fun and professionally, inshore and offshore, and those working and volunteering within the wider sailing sector.

The Trust will look to identify disparities across the sport, understand why they exist, and consider what might be done to improve the balance, learning from examples within sailing, in other sports and in other sectors.

This will inform a programme of work to support women and girls, as well as recommendations for other partners across the sailing industry.

Set up in 2018 by World Sailing, the World Sailing Trust has three areas of work which are closely linked – marine health, access and youth pathway. The work will be the first project of the Trust’s Access Programme and is generously supported by Andrew Pindar OBE DL, a long-time supporter of women in sailing.

“I am deeply passionate about enhancing female participation within sailing and I am excited to explore this with the World Sailing Trust,” said Dee Caffari MBE, Chair of the World Sailing Trust. “We want to capture a wide range of experiences – male and female – so we can take action to help address the balance within our sport.”

Double Olympic gold medallist and Trustee of the World Sailing Trust, Theresa Zabell added, “We want to support more women and girls to participate in our sport and work within the industry. This piece of work will allow us to form stronger global partnerships to make a positive change and create new opportunities.”

The World Sailing Trust is welcoming international views and opinions on gender diversity in sailing.

Send email to Head of Fundraising, Hannah Goldie, to share your experiences, areas of improvement, suggestions and comments – Hannah.goldie@worldsailingtrust.org.