Promoting equality in sport among coaches, teachers, athletes and sports managers in order to break down stereotypes is the main objective of 'Women in Sport: Gender Relations and Future Perspectives - WOMEN-UP', a new project co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus + call, led by UCAM. The Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal), the University of Thessaly (Greece) and the Pamukkale University (Turkey) all participate in this initiative, in which the NGO "Champions Factory Ireland Limited", from Ireland, or associations such as the Unione Italiana Sport per Tutti or the Institute CO.RI cooperate too. - Comunicazione & Ricerca, both based in Italy, and Collective

Innovation (Norway). 

This project is a follow-up to 'Addressing Gender Equality in Sport - AGES', which looked at gender differences and the persistence of stereotypes in teenage sport from the point of view of young people, their parents, teachers and coaches. The purpose now is to go a step further, as Raquel Vaquero, UCAM researcher and PI (principal investigator) of this project, says: ‘We will set up focus groups to ask women athletes, coaches, teachers and managers of both sexes what strategies should be followed to promote gender equality in sport. This will be followed by a Handbook for Equality, Equity and Gender Inclusion in Sport, which will provide information to those working with female athletes on the needs and barriers they have and how to address them’. 

Once the results are available, workshops will be organised to disseminate the resources generated among people working in the field of sport on a daily basis. The next step will be the launch of a massive open online course (MOOC) for physical education teachers and coaches to reduce gender stereotypes and inequality in sport. The project will conclude with the writing of a decalogue of good practices and the organisation of an international conference and talks in educational centres for the promotion of equity and equality in sport. The results will be shared through social media and in different scientific papers.