EWAS - Empowering Women in Alpine Skiing

Women are still a minority in coaching or in serving in leadership positions in sports organizations. This is particularly the case in Alpine Skiing, where female coaches and senior administrators are still a rarity, and where girls quit in much greater numbers and much earlier than boys.

The absence of female coaches, translate in a lack of role models for girls, which contributes to them quitting the sport. One of the main obstacles to gender equality in Alpine Skiing is how coaches are trained and recruited. Ski instructors’ and ski coaches’ trainings insist on the technical aspect of skiing, leaving behind important skills and knowledge that it is assumed it will be then learned on the field. However, this translates into a practice of cooptation and, consequently, to the perpetuation of the “boys club”. By developing trainings and offering skills development opportunities, EWAS aimed at empowering women coaches and at increasing women’s employability in the sport, making access to the profession merit-based and therefore more equitable. In short, EWAS:

1. Researched the obstacles girls and women face

in Alpine skiing first as athletes and then as coaches or administrators and elaborated policy proposals and best practices to foster a culture promoting gender parity starting at the grass root club level, going up to the Federations level.

2. Promoted skills development in Alpine Skiing

By creating training modules for women coaches, aspiring coaches and administrators. The training modules deal with important aspects of the profession about which there is little to no formal education. All the tutorials created by EWAS can be accessed here as well as in the following pages.