Women's Forum meeting generates widespread discussion on Day 12 of the Annual Conference

The meeting of the Women’s Forum was the only open meeting to take place on Thursday 29 October, as World Sailing’s 2020 Annual Conference begins to reach its conclusion.

The Forum, which would usually enjoy a well-attended debate in person between women in a variety of roles throughout sailing, met virtually from 15:00 UTC. Elena Papazoglou chaired the meeting, while Rowena Farrugia, World Sailing’s Business Operations Manager, was Committee Manager.
 
This was the last meeting of the Annual Conference before the meeting of Council on Friday 30 October and Saturday 31 October, with the General Assembly and New Council following on Sunday 1 November.
 
After opening the meeting with the approval of last year’s minutes, Vice President Nadine Stegenwalner, as well as various Committee members within the Forum, reported back on any women’s issues raised in Committee meetings so far. This included several Submissions, discussed in various meetings throughout the week.
 
It was recommended that Submission 008-20, regarding the budget for World Sailing’s Training and Development Programmes, Submission 016-20, which refers to ensuring financial support for Para Sailing, and Submission 030-20, regarding the Mixed Two Persons Keelboat Offshore Olympic equipment, should be approved. Submission 037-20 was also raised, which was recommended to be rejected.
 
The Forum was also shown two presentations which generated discussion amongst those attending.
 
World Sailing’s Training and Development Executive Cat Duncan presented Steering the Course, a global women’s sailing festival planned for 2021.
 
Victoria Low, Interim Head of the World Sailing Trust, reviewed the findings of last year’s Women in Sailing Strategic Review and outlined the progress on the Review’s nine recommendations, with a look ahead to the Trust’s focus over the next year.

Low encouraged those attending to submit their own ideas and experiences and emphasised the importance of working together from a variety of backgrounds to improve our sport.

Additionally, a video shared by Cathy McAleavey from 20×20’s campaign ‘If She Can’t See It, She Can’t Be It,’ sparked an interesting debate on the importance of female role models within the sport, and how we can use them to inspire our young sailors.
 
To conclude, the Forum talked through its previous achievements as well as its future aims and how best to work towards gender equity within sailing over the next 12 months.
 
This meeting was streamed live on YouTube – you can watch again below: