The Australian Government is providing around $400,000 in grants to help nearly 2,000 Australian women to become leaders in sport.

The Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis, and the Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, today announced the 2008/09 Sports Leadership Grants for Women, which will enable individuals and organisations to undertake accredited training and development in coaching, officiating, governance and management.

Ms Ellis, who is in Beijing for the Olympic Games, said the Australian Government was committed to increasing the opportunities for more Australian women to become leaders in sport.

She said the national policy paper Australian Sport: emerging challenges, new directions had recognised the need for real and practical steps to tackle the under-representation of women in sport.

“The Sports Leadership Grants for Women program is one important way the Government is addressing the under representation of women in sport,” she said.

“These grants will enable more women to undertake accredited sports leadership training in areas where they traditionally tend to be under-represented.

“For example, a grant to the Lakemba Sports and Recreation Club in Sydney will help the club train 60 women in a soccer coaching course. Significantly, all the women are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds where sport is not a traditional pathway for women.”

The Garnduwa Amboorny Wirnan Aboriginal Corporation will use its grant to conduct introductory basketball officiating courses throughout the East Kimberley region in Western Australia. The corporation aims to put 100 women through the course.

Ms Plibersek said that since its inception, the Sports Leadership Grants for Women program had helped nearly 17,500 women from around Australia to develop high-level skills in their sport.

“Many of the successful grant recipients are role models in their communities or sporting clubs,” she said.

“Australian sport stands to benefit from having a greater number of women in leadership and decision-making roles. It contributes to the depth and diversity of Australian sport.

“The women leaders in sport we provide assistance to today will in turn help to coach and develop the future generations of Australian Olympians who will possibly compete for Gold in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics and beyond.”

The Sports Leadership Grants for Women program is jointly funded by the Australian Sports Commission and the Office for Women. Over the seven years that the program has been operating, a total of $2.4 million in grants has been awarded.

The grants are provided in five areas – high-performance coaching and officiating; Indigenous women; women in disability sport; women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; and women in general sport leadership.

This year 144 projects – 76 individuals and 68 organisations – received grants. Ninety two grants are located in metropolitan areas and 52 in rural areas.
Funding of up to $5,000 was available to individual recipients and up to $10,000 for organisations.

For more grants details, go to: www.ausport.gov.au/participating/all/women

To interview recipients in your area or for further information, contact Kirsten Lea at the Australian Sports Commission on (02) 6214 1252 or 0407 436 923.