This translates into total equal participation in individual competitions and obviously in the mixed team event as well, an event which by definition, with three women and three men in each team, will be perfectly equal.
For years, the projects to guarantee this equality and fairness have been numerous within the International Judo Federation. There is still work to do and that is exactly the purpose of the Gender Equality Commission (GEC). The recent activity ‘Self-Defence for Women’ (READ THE ARTICLE), held during the Abu Dhabi World Championships, is a very good example of what can be done to enhance women's participation in the sport.
As stated by the GEC, "Gender equality is a human right. As judo is still a male-dominated sport, gender equality is one of the prerequisites of achieving good governance." Progress has been made in the following areas:
- Share of women in different positions: statistics drawn from Judobase every 2 years are showing progress, especially regarding the number of women athletes (plus 7% in comparison to 2022)
- Media exposure for the achievements of women
- Special project: Self-Defence for Women – pilot seminar in Abu Dhabi illustrating interesting paths and activities of EC members during the training of ukemi and self-defence
- Supporting activities: the Judo for Peace project always highlights the importance of involving women in judo in all project countries.
- 20 women are now national federation presidents, while there are 46 general secretaries. They represent new forces in judo governance!
The Paris 2024 Games will therefore be a perfect example of what can be achieved and how. They will be a celebration of full gender parity on the field of play. Paris 2024 will therefore be the first Olympic Games in history with full gender equality on the field of play and will become the biggest gender-equal sporting event ever.
This achievement has been made possible thanks to a number of deliberate actions and an ongoing commitment to advance and make gender equality mainstream, the norm’ within the sporting arena and beyond.
It must be said that the Olympic Games are an excellent barometer of the evolution of society. While female athletes accounted for just 2.2% of all competitors at the Olympic Games Paris 1900, when women participated for the first time, the number gradually rose, picking up the pace at Los Angeles 1984 with 23%, then 44% at London 2012, and 48% at Tokyo 2020.
The judo family is fully committed to achieving gender equality goals and will continue to work to promote judo for all without any kind of discrimination while taking into account the specificities of the various cultures that constitute our societies. Let's celebrate together a fair and just society, where we all have our chances to be educated and to perform at the highest level.