"I think that overall women’s judo has a really good position in our judo family and we must be proud of that. I think that we have done a great job over recent years to make sure that everyone has equal chances to participate in the sport.
Once that’s said, there are stil sectors where improvement is needed and we are working on it. By that I mean, for instance, that we are still lacking women in leadership and coaching positions. It has already changed a lot compared with ten years ago. It's an ongoing process though and that’s why we need to keep working on having more women involved for those positions.
Talking about the Tashkent Grand Slam, I am really happy with the balance between male and female competitors. With 191 men (52%) and 173 women (48%), we are close to the perfect balance. This is encouraging. I remember that some years ago, here in Tashkent, we had one more female athlete than the men. We can definitely say that, when it comes to the athletes, it is rather balanced.
I believe that what has changed, compared with the old days, is that today our community is aware of the gender issue and people are more and more aware that there are actually gender inequalities within society. Those inequalities have nothing to do with sport but of course sport is affected. I want to stress here that no-one should be considered less important based on any kind of discrimnation. Women are as competent as men and vice-versa. I must also say that there are many men in our organisation and judo family who are strongly supporting gender equity issues and equality.
But you know, it's a complex question. Not that long ago, those gender questions did not seem that important but they are now. The world is more complex but also more exciting and we are always keen to find solutions. It's a constantly evolving situation and we have to adapt of course. Isn't judo the way of adaptation?
I must admit that personally I was never ever the subject of gender-based discrimination and I am very grateful to all my colleagues and friends from the judo family for that, but I must also say that I know that gender-based discrimination exists in society, in sport and in judo. This is the reason why I said that it is an ongoing process and we will continue to work hard to make sure that our sport is clean. We have to set up goals and aims. The work done by Dr Sanda Corak is exemplary. She has a lot of very important and interesting projects to help our national federations to build a balanced and equitable world. I need to add that the work done by our media team is also great, very gender balanced. When you follow our activities on our website and social media, you can see that all athletes are equally considered and that all rights are respected.
I think that in the future we will have to continue supporting each other. We are stronger together, this is a fact. Judo has values and we need to keep promoting them. For that we need to understand different cultures. Europe is not Oceania, not Asia, Pan America or Africa. We have to find targeted solutions that respect the differences. I am confident."
Confidence is for sure needed. The judo family has proven confident in the past. It is still today and will be in the future. People such as Dr Lisa Allan will always be here to remind us of the need to celebrate and encourage that confidence.