Austria's 1st Women's Sports Symposium: Initial spark for gender equality

The 1st Austrian Women's Sports Symposium "Advantage Ladies" is set to provide an initial spark. The event, which took place on Friday as part of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, was held under the motto "Visible. Strengthened. Positioned." and is intended to bring the topic of "gender equality" in Austrian sport into the social, media and sports policy spotlight. In future, "Advantage Ladies" will take place every year during the women's tennis classic in Linz. The 1st Austrian Women's Sports Symposium was jointly initiated by Sport Austria, the Austrian Tennis Association (ÖTV) and Upper Austria Ladies Linz.

Speakers at the high-profile all-day symposium at the Linz Design Center in front of around 200 visitors included Vice-Chancellor and Sports Minister Werner Kogler, Women's Minister Susanne Raab and Micky Lawler, President of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Micky Lawler, who was visiting Linz for the first time, explained in the first panel of the day: "We can look back on a great success story in women's tennis on the 50th anniversary of the WTA, and we would like other women's sports to be able to learn and benefit from our wealth of experience and our battles, such as those waged by Billie Jean King and her colleagues. Our motto is: We're just getting started!"

The federal sports organisation Sport Austria was represented by President Hans Niessl; Vice-President Jürgen Roth was there for the ÖTV. Tournament director Sandra Reichel and tournament ambassador Barbara Schett represented the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, Austria's most important major women's sporting event. A total of five panels were on the programme over the course of the day. Irene Fuhrmann, coach of the Austrian national women's football team, and Marion Maruska, ÖTV sports coordinator and captain of the Austrian Billie Jean King Cup team, held their own keynote speeches. Other prominent panellists included author and geneticist Markus Hengstschläger and former Federal Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat, President of the Austrian Paralympic Committee (ÖPC).

Werner Kogler, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Sport, Arts, Culture and the Civil Service:
"I am delighted that something big is being created around Austria's most important international women's sporting event, which will help women in sport to become more visible. Some of my priorities in sport have been aimed precisely at this. With the gender trainee programme to train female coaches and managers, the 'Dream Teams' funding programme for the women's leagues and a funding call that was instrumental in bringing twelve new women's sports projects to fruition, a few lighthouse projects have emerged that will change Austrian sport in the long term."

Susanne Raab, Federal Minister for Women, Family, Integration and Media:
"The women's tennis tournament in Linz has long been a fixture in the Austrian sports calendar and a unique initiative for the advancement of women that goes beyond sport - because the advancement of women is not a topic that stands alone, but a task for society as a whole. Every girl and every woman should know that she can become what she wants to be and be active in the area that interests her. It is therefore important that girls and women have role models with whom they can identify. This also and especially applies to the world of sport."

Hans Niessl, President of Sport Austria (Austrian Federal Sports Organisation):
"In all my previous functions, I have always found that in those areas where the number of women and men was balanced, the results were also better in the end. I brought this realisation to sport right from the start of my Sport Austria presidency and therefore also initiated the Sport Austria Women's Advisory Board, which is dedicated to the fundamental question of what needs to be done to improve the position of women in sport. A new, important step towards being able to address this issue on a broad basis and across all sports is now the 1st Women's Sport Symposium 'Advantage Ladies'. This joint initiative of the federal sports organisation Sport Austria, the Upper Austria Ladies Linz and the ÖTV has the format to give wings to this so important socio-political topic of sport. The symposium has come to stay as long as women in sport have not achieved the same visibility as men." 

Jürgen Roth, Vice-President of the Austrian Tennis Association (ÖTV):
"As the ÖTV, it is very important to us to further promote equal rights in tennis and put an end to the underrepresentation of women in the sport. According to analyses, only 16 per cent of all ÖTV coach licence holders are female, 10 per cent of all referees (15 per cent of ÖTV chair umpires), 7 per cent of all tennis club officials and just under 9 per cent of tournament directors in 2021. We urgently need to address this. We need more women in Austrian tennis and in sport in general."

Sandra Reichel, Tournament Director Upper Austria Ladies Linz:
"I know the perspective on women's sport from all angles - whether from my active time as a professional tennis player, from my 22 years as a tournament director here in Linz or as an advisor to a young female player. It is very important to me that women's sport is given the status it deserves. At the Australian Open, you could see that the TV ratings for the women's final in Australia were better than for the men's final - that was a strong signal for me. At Upper Austria Ladies Linz, I have launched numerous initiatives with my majority female organisation team, which is a bit exotic in the world of sport - including Austria's largest junior initiative '1000 tennis rackets for 1000 girls', the year-round forum 'Ladies in Business & Sports' and now also 'Advantage Ladies' - we want to make a difference."