This year’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is expected to have 45% female participation. Even as the number of female athletes has improved, the number of women in leadership roles in international sports organizations remains wanting.

The “2016 International Sports Report Card on Women in Leadership Roles” released by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida showed the following dire statistics:

• Only 5.7% of International Federation presidents, 12.2% of the vice presidents and 13.1% of executive committee members are women.
• In the International Olympic Committee (IOC) itself, 24.4% of the members are women.
• Three International Federations (International Handball Federation, International Judo Federation and World Rugby) have no women in leadership roles.
• Of the total 113 presidents of regional zone confederations, only 12 for 10.6% are women.
• The following are the scores received by international sports organizations for the representation of women in leadership roles, A, being the highest score:

– IOC: D+

– International Federations: F

– National federations affiliated to each International Federation: F

– Regional zone confederations: F

– United States Olympic Committee (USOC): B-

– International Skating Federation: A-

In a statement, Anita DeFrantz, a member of both the IOC and the board of directors at the USOC, said, “Good governance demands that women and men share the responsibility of decision-making at board levels. International Sports governance is far behind the standard as evidenced by the 2016 International Sports Report Card on Women in Leadership Roles.

For her part, renowned tennis player Billie Jean King, who is also the Founder of the Women’s Sports Foundation, said, “The Lapchick (TIDES) report card on the lack of women in leadership roles in international sport is an accurate picture of where we are today and reinforces that our international and national federations need to bring more women in leadership roles and bring about transformational change in the way we manage and lead in sports.”