Tennis is a powerful platform for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Historically tennis has always been a pioneering sport when it comes to gender equality and the equal rights of women and girls in all walks of life. Professional tennis has strong advocates such as Billie Jean King, whose influence and playing style elevated the status of women’s professional tennis. Across the Pacific, tennis is growing in popularity but equity and balance in women and girls’ participation and leadership remains a challenge. Gender disparity becomes particularly evident in competitive tennis and in leadership roles whether that be on court such as coaching and officiating or off court such as administrators. COVID-19 compounded this situation with associations seeing an 80% reduction in women administrators, a consequence of longstanding gender gaps and norms around caregiving.
Pacific Women and Girls in Tennis – Emerging onto the World Stage is an Australian government-funded program under the Pacific Women Sports Administration Program (PWSAP). PWSAP is investing in women sport leaders and administrators in rugby union, netball and tennis with the objective of increasing the pipeline of women Pacific administrators in tennis through professional development and networking opportunities. Pacific Women and Girls in Tennis aims to ensure equal opportunities for women and men on and off the court and works to generate the changes necessary for parity. The program is being implemented by Tennis Australia across Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu over four years (August 2022 – August 2026) with participants coming from all Pacific ODA countries that are members of the Oceania Tennis Federation (OTF).
By the end of the four-year program, the following interconnected end-of-program outcomes are expected:
EOPO1: Pacific women are empowered to take up leadership positions on and off the court.
EOPO2: Talented Pacific women and girl players have increased opportunities to participate in elite-level competitions.
EOPO3: National Associations governance structures and processes are more supportive and inclusive of Pacific women and girls in tennis.
Operating context
After one year of implementation, the program and its key approaches remain highly relevant to achieving gender equality within sport across the region and the contextual environment.
Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, this has not limited the ability of the program to establish a presence both in Australia and in-country and the program coordinator, relevant technical experts and program participants have been able to travel and participate in activities as required.
Vanuatu experienced twin cyclones during March 2023, however given the program’s focus in Fiji during the first year of implementation activities continued as planned. Vanuatu Tennis Association is currently undertaking rehabilitation as necessary with the aim of hosting coaching activities in Year 2 of the program even if their court and facility situation remains challenging.
Read the Full Report here