Manama, Bahrain, October 31, 2022: IOC Executive Board Member HRH Prince Faisal bin Al-Hussein has cautioned against National Olympic Committees setting up token Women’s Committees so as to inflate gender requirements targets within the organisation.
“Having Women Committees is a great thing to do by NOCs, but only if it is done right,” warned Prince Faisal, who is also the President of the Jordan Olympic Committee and an Olympic Council of Asia Executive Board Member.
“These committees are 100 per cent manned by women and some NOCs do it to get their gender numbers up. They have a women’s committee and they put 20 women on it. If there is a women’s committee, it must be done effectively,” remarked Prince Faisal, a panellist at the OCA’s Gender Equity Seminar in Manama.
The IOC has recommended that all NOCs have a 30 per cent female representation on its executive board.
“If there’s a women’s committee, then the NOC must ensure that there is somebody from this body is on its executive board, and that their voice should be heard. What happens usually is that the executive board does not take the recommendations seriously,” Prince Faisal pointed out.
The Jordanian NOC chief also called on fellow-Asian NOCs to train somebody in all aspects of safeguarding athletes – from harassment and abuse in sport.
“In 2017, the IOC launched the Athlete Safeguarding Toolkit. We now have an International Safeguarding Officer in Sport Certificate course and I urge all NOCs to have somebody trained in all aspects of safeguarding,” Prince Faisal noted.
The IOC’s first certification course resulted in 50 graduates. There are about 90 in the second course.
“It is essential that all NOCs have someone qualified to do the safeguarding job,” Prince Faisal added.
