Working towards equality: Women in the sport and fitness sector

While women's participation in sport, the media and even the boardroom has been improving over the last few years, there is still a need to support women working in sport and fitness.

International Women's Day is a perfect day to celebrate how far women have come in the world of sport. While women still lag behind men in terms of participation, media coverage and leadership positions, the situation is slowly improving.

For example, Karen Espelund, member of the UEFA Executive Committee and chairwoman of the Women’s Football Committee, has noted the growth in the development of women's football in Europe and, after the 2015 Women's World Cup, Dr. Leszek Sibilski spoke about the "coming of age of women’s football".

At the same time more research and discussion is being dedicated to women in sport, including the Women in Sport Insight Series, The Conversation 2015: Women and Sport, FIFA's Women’s Football and Leadership Conference and the EWS Biannual Conference on Women and Sport.

And although female participation is still less than that of men, a look at the evolution of women in sport shows that there has been a dramatic increase over the past few decades, at least in part due to successful media campaigns and positive messaging.

To continue promoting women in sports and to celebrate this year's International Women's Day, the Women's Sports Network is focussing on empowering women through jobs in sport, leisure and recreation. The Network explains:

"Working near home in sport/fitness and with friends/neighbours can be a real opportunity to get back to work whilst fitting in all the other things that have to get done. So this IWDay we're pushing our free @HERJobsNET service - there are currently thousands of national and international jobs published here - http://wsnet.co.uk/jobs. So you can find or advertise a new position - and it's free. HERJobsNET gets many hundreds of hits each day and is now the busiest part of our website - so why not have a look on this year's International Women's Day - and be empowered through sport/fitness. Find a job or submit one here - http://wsnet.co.uk/jobs/job-submit."