Women occupy a third of executive positions in 30 international federations, a figure that has grown slightly since 2024, after a significant increase in 2018, according to a study published by Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA).
In the 30 international federations that make up the Association of Summer Olympic Sports Federations (ASOIF), 32.02% of executive positions are held by women, around a third, but the “SIGA 2026 Study on female representation in the top executive bodies of international sports federations” considers that “efforts are needed to sustain and accelerate this trajectory”.
This conclusion is the result of the increase from 18.3% of women in these positions in 2018 to almost 32.02% recorded this yearmaintaining the male predominance among the top leadership in these Olympic sports federations (81.7% in 2018, 82.2% in 2020, 71.2% in 2024 and 67.98% in 2026).
Despite the (IOC) being led for the first time by a woman, the former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry, only three of the 30 federations (10%) are, according to the study, presided over by women, such as Sweden’s Annika Sörenstam (golf) and Petra Sörling (table tennis) and Thailand’s Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul (badminton).
The number increases slightly among executive directors or general secretaries, to five (16.67%), in categories such as:
- cycling
- fencing
- equestrian
- modern pentathlon
- escalation
SIGA concludes that, “Despite increased awareness and participation, urgent measures are needed to sustain and increase this progress.”
The study analyzed 659 executive positions, an average of 22 per governance bodyconfirming the underrepresentation of women in the highest places in the sporting hierarchy.
According to this report, the became the first top international federation to achieve parity, with 50% male and female representatives at board level (13 of each sex), followed by the equestrian structures (47.62%, 10 women out of 21) and table tennis (45.45%, five out of 11), while, in absolute numbers, the swimming organizations (World Aquatics has 17 women in 40 positions, with 42.5%) and sailing (World Sailing, 15 out of 44, 34.09%).
At the opposite pole are the handball (10%), canoeing (13.33%), tennis (17.65%), amateur wrestling (20%) and basketball (21.43%) federations.
Given these numbers, SIGA calls on international federations to adopt measurable governance reforms that accelerate gender equalitywith measures such as:
- development of leadership pathways
- support for annual mentoring programs from SIGAWomen for women in sport governance
This SIGA structure was launched in 2018 to promote female leadership, gender equality and good governance in sport.
“There can be no integrity in sport as long as its leadership remains predominantly male. True integrity cannot coexist with structural imbalance and true meritocracy cannot thrive where opportunity is not equally accessible”, lamented the Portuguese Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, co-founder and recently re-elected executive director of SIGA until 2030.
Despite regretting the decrease in women in the presidency of international federations, it decreased from four in 2024 to three, with the departure of Spanish Marisol Casada from the leadership of the International Trial Union, Medeiros praised the parity of World Athletics, as well as the eight federations with 40% female top managers, a total of 21 above a third.
