Gender Pari(s)ty Olympics & Paralympics: Three Small Steps for Gender Equality and One Giant Leap for Global Health

By guest contributors Dr. Jennifer S. Martin, Dr. Bismah Nayyer, and Dr.Frances Brill

In a world exercising poly-crises, the Olympic and Paralympic Games are a time to celebrate solidarity, dedication, and conviction. They are a universal language that speaks to the masses, breaks down borders, and unites people across generations. With a global audience of up to 3 billion, they provide the perfect platform to champion human rights issues, such as gender equality. The Paris 2024 Olympics marked a significant milestone with (almost) gender parity, as 5416 female athletes competed, and the Paralympics followed suit with 4,400 women athletes. As we approach the Summit of the Future, where the Pact for the Future will outline how global health actors can protect future generations, it’s crucial for all of us to advocate for policies that make sports more inclusive and accessible to all.

The Pact for the Future (2024) states that the world will not attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ‘without the full, equal and meaningful participation of all women and girls.’ Women’s participation in the Olympics was not always prioritized. Although women were allowed to compete at the Olympics from 1900, it took until 2012 for all countries to send at least one woman. The visibility of women at this level is not just a milestone, but a critical inspiration for the next generation of athletes and spectators. Here are three opportunities that sports entities could adopt from the Paris gender-responsive legacy:

Step 1 is encouraging global participation and enshrining gender in their constitution. The IOC has affirmed its commitment to gender equality with The Olympic Charter, Chapter 1, Rule 2.8: National Olympic Committees must “encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures to implement the principle of equality.” The IOC is also driving gender parity at the Paris Games through their athlete quotas and by prioritizing a youth-centric approach through their 22 mixed events and 28/32 gender-equal events. Retaining more women in sports could contribute to the WHO’s goal of a 10% reduction in global physical inactivity by 2025 By inspiring the next generation of athletes and spectators. This must continue for future games, be encouraged across all major sporting events, and make additional provisions for women from low- to middle-income countries.

Step 2 is ensuring participants feel supported regardless of life stage, societal expectations around caregiving, and the very bodily burden of parenting. Women disproportionately bear caregiving responsibilities, necessitating a robust support system for them to compete effectively. The 2024 breastfeeding rooms were made possible by seven-time Olympic-winning Allyson Felix and the world’s fastest mom. To ensure both professional and amateur sportswomen continue beyond childbirth, we must create a widely accepted culture of parenting and structure incentives, including, at a professional level, pay parity and support for female athletes who have additional care responsibilities.

Step 3 addresses the menstrual health in women, girls, and people who menstruate. This year’s corporate sponsor, Always, launched “It’s a New Period” to eliminate menstrual anxiety in the world of sports. This included the provision of menstrual products for athletes but not spectators. The next stage of ensuring menstruation does not limit people’s sports is ensuring the provision of adequate facilities. At the Paris 2024’s Stade de France, there were no menstrual bins; soap ran out before events started, and no access to menstrual products. The IOC should be ensuring that national sporting bodies adopt menstruation-positive practices. Half of women stop doing sports because of menstruation. Accommodations are minor but significantly impact elites and amateurs alike. For example, Wimbledon adjusted its strict all-white dress code to allow players to wear dark undershorts, addressing concerns of leakages while menstruating. This followed hosts New Zealand and Australia creating more period-friendly kits ahead of the World Cup 2023. However, further support is required for female para-athletes because of potentially three interrelated conditions: physical low energy availability, functional hypothalamic amenorrhea, and low bone mineral density. There is a significant research gap on how menstrual cycles affect female Para-athletes. Addressing this gap can help customize support to make their cycles more comfortable during the Games. Paris 2024 must be a launch pad for period-friendly change.

In a year of 64 global elections and global rollbacks on sexual and reproductive health rights and gender equality, the IOC and the IPC have the unique opportunity to advance the rights of women and girls.  In the build-up to +30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, it is critical that new actors are brought to the negotiations. The IOC and the IPC could leverage their platform and power to reach women, girls, men, boys, and gender-diverse people to show the positive impact of a gender-equal sporting world.

About the authors:

Dr. Jenni Martin has led the global menstrual health movement, Menstrual Rights Global, since its inception in 2020. She continues transforming global menstrual health by elevating activists from 40 countries by offering them a platform to share their unique insights into menstrual health in their context. Jenni is a dedicated activist; she has advocated for menstrual health since 2014 through grassroots initiatives and global programs. She founded Women in Global Health Finland, is committed to supporting early career professionals to break into the global health market, and is a mentor to several young women worldwide.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jennifer-martin-4628a778/

Dr. Bismah Nayyer is a dedicated public health professional with expertise in Health System Strengthening, NCDs, and Gender Advocacy. Since 2020, she has been working in the menstrual health space, including leading Menstrual Rights Global’s advocacy efforts and working with community-based groups in Pakistan to integrate menstrual health education into school curricula. With a decade of experience in public health, she founded Global Health Connect to drive behavioral change through advocacy. She also consults for UN agencies and public health organizations while serving on various gender-focused advisory boards.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bismha/

Dr. Frances Brill is the Policy Lead at MRG. She is also a Senior Scientist at the University of Zurich and an honorary lecturer at UCL, London.        LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frances-brill-7b6084a1/

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