Culturally and linguistically diverse women in sport and recreation - stakeholder consultation report

• Natasha Cortis, Kristy Muir
• Social Policy Research Centre

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13 April 2007In June 2006, the Australian Government Office for Women in the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) engaged the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at the University of New South Wales to research how culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women participate in sport and recreation, and the factors that may limit their full involvement.

The project is designed to inform the development of policies and programs to effectively support the inclusion of CALD women in sport and recreation activities in Australia in playing and in non-playing roles.

Overall, this research demonstrated that the perception of sport representing a “level playing field” is pervasive, and that supporting cultural diversity is not currently considered a high priority by National Sporting Organisations (NSOs).

With the exception of Indigenous Australians, NSOs tend to promote their sports to the mainstream rather than particular cultural groups and do not tend to monitor the cultural backgrounds or characteristics of participants.