Women and Sport: The ChangeMakers
Professor Celia Brackenridge OBE, Sportswoman, Scholar, and Activist is a pioneer of the women and sport movement and leader of the campaign against sexual harassment and abuse in sport.
She says: “Science, knowledge and educators are so crucial to the women and sport movement. We have to have good science, it’s no good being polemical or writing angry pieces in newspapers. If we provide the evidence, that is an unassailable position for the ideological changes that we are trying to achieve.”
This is the approach which drove Celia throughout her academic and public life.
‘Who Rules Sport?’, written by Celia and Dr Anita White OBE in the 1980s, was the first research paper of its kind that focused on the underrepresentation of women within British sports leadership. This paper was significant in identifying the male domination of sports leadership in the UK as a problem which required attention and change.
Lucy Piggott and Lombe Mwambwa, University of Chichester PhD Researchers and Anita White Foundation Scholars commented: “The questions asked within this paper are still relevant today, and over 30 years later we are turning attention from who rules sport, to finding out more about why men continue to ‘rule sport’, and how we can change these patterns of female representation.”
To celebrate the life and work of Celia, a new website will be launched at The FIL Rathbone’s Women’s Lacrosse World Cup on July 14th 2017. Developed by the Anita White Foundation, part of the University of Chichester, it is designed to make Celia’s work accessible to scholars and activists interested in women, sport and social change, and to inspire women sport leaders of the future.
It summarises her achievements as a top class sportswoman and as a founder of the Women’s Sports Foundation(UK), WomenSport International, and Safe Sport International. Information about her extensive research is provided, with links to key references and publications. Her impact on national and international sport issues and policy is highlighted with comments from experts in the field.
The website has been developed by Lucy Piggott and Lombe Mwambwa, drawing upon materials donated by Celia to the AWF, and stored in the Anita White Foundation International Women and Sport Archive which is housed at the University of Chichester.
The Anita White Foundation hopes to develop the website into a resource that captures the work of other activists and scholars who have been ChangeMakers in today’s women and sport movement.
