The rise of women at Paralympic Games

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This year the Paralympics will continue to celebrate International Women’s Day past March 8, commemorating women’s rights by driving the spotlight on a wealth of female athletes fighting a double discrimination.

On the first week of competition, the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games host a record number of athletes with 567 set to compete – 109 of which are females, the highest number to take part than at any previous Paralympics.

With a steady year-on-year increase in female participation and the International Paralympic Committee’s new initiatives to provide equal opportunities across the board, it is clear that women are to play an important role in the Paralympic global movement.

And while there is still a long way to go before the Games reaches complete gender equality, the aim is that women at the Paralympics will move from participation to representation.

IPC's Women in Sport Committee Chairperson, Rita van Driel, told CGTN Digital: “We try to do as much as we can to increase female participation and also the women in leadership positions. We do a lot of programmes with the Agitos Foundation. There’s always a requirement that it is for both men and women.”

Female empowerment high on the agenda

Marie Bochet of France competes in standing downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics /Reuters Photo

In 2017, the Agitos Foundation announced the Para sport development projects that would receive over 600,000 euros in funding through the new edition of its Grant Support Programme.

Among the 31 projects awarded in the fifth edition of the GPS, several initiatives focused specifically on fostering gender equality. Additionally, funds have been earmarked to promote female participation in leadership positions in Africa, working together with the African Paralympic Committee and the IPC Women in Sport Committee.

“There are a few former athletes in certain team's Chef de Mission roles where I believe we see more women involved. I know we have really strong women in different areas,” said Van Driel, who has been elected three times to her position on the IPC board. “There are some really great role models as athletes"

"Marie Bochet from France, who competed in downhill in the standing category,” the board member added. “Esther Vergeer is a high-level wheelchair tennis player. She is now the Chef de Mission of the Netherlands team, developing herself with another career and giving back to the movement.”

Face to face with male competitors

Ina Forrest and Dennis Thiessen of Canada deliver the stone during the wheelchair curling practice. /Reuters Photo

While the Olympic events are generally gender-segregated, the Paralympics have embraced mixed-gendered sports with curling making its debut at PyeongChang, leading the way for Tokyo 2020, which has approved further mixed events in athletics, swimming, table tennis and triathlon.

Van Driel said: “We would like to see more mixed events. Curling is a mixed event and it doesn’t make a difference if you are a man or woman. We are trying to develop ice sledge hockey and para ice hockey for females, but that is a really long-term plan. There are initiatives and camps, where women come from their countries and train together.

Standing out from the crowd

The foundation implemented the ‘Actualising the Dream’ campaign in partnership with the IPC and PyeongChang 2018 that formed the first women’s para ice hockey training camp in order to increase the number of women playing the sport.

Norway’s Lena Schroeder, who was present at last year’s workshop in South Korea, is the first female para ice hockey player to take part in the Winter Paralympics since fellow Norwegian, Brit Mjaasund Oejen, took silver at the Lillehammer 1994.

Para ice hockey teams can bring up to 17 players to the Games, but that number increases to 18 if their squad includes a female.

Lena Schroeder (R) of Norway with teammates during the para ice hockey practice at the PyeongChang Paralympics. / Reuters Photo

Schroeder said: “I’m well aware that I am the only female player. I get some attention from it from spectators or maybe people on the staff from other teams. For me, I’m so used to it that I don’t see any problems with it. I would say it’s a privilege actually because we’re just a big group of friends playing together.”

The PyeongChang Winter Games is Schroeder's first major competition, but the athlete is already looking towards the future beyond this year’s Games and hopes that one day there will be a women’s hockey team at the Paralympics.

“It’s important that people see that even if it’s male dominated, you can play as a girl,” the Paralympian said. “I do hope that people feel they can go to a male team or a team with only male players and actually start playing. You shouldn’t stop playing para ice hockey just because you’re a female player.”

Women and leadership

The trend of women in sports is also progressing in leadership roles with Dr. Khattab, president of the National Egypt's Paralympic Committee, receiving the 2018 International Women’s Day Recognition for her commitment to women in the Paralympics.

Since adopting her position in 2015, she is seen as the driving force behind the formation of Egypt's first women's sitting volleyball team. As well as being praised for her work encouraging retired female athletes to take up positions in coaching or on committees.

Former Dutch Paralympian Esther Vergeer continues to work with the Norway team past her athletic career / AFP Photo

"Paralympic sport is very important in any society and it is obvious that the Paralympic movement is spreading through the whole world," Dr. Khattab, the first female president of an Arab National Paralympic committee, told CGTN. "That is why I think that women whether athletes or executives should be there and play an important role.

Other notable women figures in executive positions at the Games include three-time Paralympian Cheri Blauwet, who is extending her legacy far beyond the playing field as the chair of the Medical Committee, and inspiring more women to get involved at all levels of the organization.

A long road ahead

However, although there has been significant growth within the Paralympic community, gender equality remains elusive with only four of the IPC's 15 executive board members women, and female Paralympians vastly in the minority to their male compatriots.

Despite an improved 19 percent female participation at the PyeongChang Winter Games, it is still a long way off the 50 percent it needs to be.

And with the IOC announcing its new Gender Equality Review Project, designed to implement 25 recommendations within the Olympic and global sports community, the question remains what are the next steps for the Paralympic movement to drive lasting change in gender parity?

“What we really want to increase, which is kind of a personal mission, is to get women and former athletes involved at the senior level at the IPC and board,” Van Driel told CGTN. “I see many high potential female athletes and former athletes, so we really have to support them to make the next steps.”

“Our ambition is to have the gender balance 50/50.”