The Australian government introduced a new directive on Tuesday ordering national and state sporting bodies to have a 50-50 gender split on their boards by mid-2027 or risk losing public funding.

The National Gender Equity in Sport Governance Policy also demands that half of board chairs and half of board sub-committees are women by July 1, 2027.

“Despite almost equal sport participation rates between men and women, women are still underrepresented in governance and leadership positions across the Australian sport sector,” the government said in a statement.

“Each jurisdiction will adopt its own mechanisms to reach the targets and timeframes, with government funding to be withheld from national organisations that do not comply.”

The statement said 62% of sporting bodies already met the required standard of gender diversity but only 25% of boards had women chairs.”We need more women making decisions for more women. Our sporting systems are not equal and this policy will help address the gender imbalances prevalent in sports leadership,” Sports Minister Anika Wells said in the statement.

“Diversity within an organisation’s senior roles provides a more complete mix of skills, perspectives and experiences, resulting in better decision-making and improved performance.”

According to the directive, gender diverse board members and chairs will be counted as women for the purposes of fulfilling the policy.

(Reuters)