Strong momentum at Advantage Ladies FE&MALE Sports Conference

The fourth Advantage Ladies FE&MALE Sports Conference as part of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz set the tone for more gender equality in sport. Under the motto „United for Change“ at the Design Center Linz, the conference organised by the Reichel Business Group (RBG) and Sport Austria brought together around 200 decision-makers from sport, media and science to promote allyship across disciplines, sports and functions - to take responsibility together, exchange perspectives and initiate concrete changes for a significant improvement in gender equality in sport.

High-calibre representatives from a wide range of sports such as Olympic skeleton champion Janine Flock, national football player Sarah Zadrazil and tennis coach Judy Murray joined experts from socially relevant areas such as the media (European Broadcasting Union) and science on stage to discuss the topics of equal opportunities, gender balance and structural changes in sport in an interdisciplinary and practical manner.

The results of an exclusive market research study conducted by Sport Austria and the Reichel Business Group in cooperation with the IMAS Institute among Austrian citizens were also presented at the conference. The study sheds light on key questions regarding equal opportunities in sport, the role of role models, sporting socialisation in childhood and social gender images. „We can see that sport is an important part of life for Austrians. Overall, the importance for men is slightly higher than for women. Sport is an essential part of personal development, for self-confidence and self-esteem. It is clearly about more than exercise. At the same time, men are much more performance-orientated than women. This is already an obstacle for women, who perhaps do sport more for fun. We see that the earlier you get access to sport in your life, the more likely you are to stay involved in sport into old age. It is mainly men who play a formative role here in their youth. We are certainly not yet at the end of the road to gender equality in sport. We assume that women - to stay with the tennis image - are more likely to have the second serve than they are at an advantage,“ said Dr Paul Eiselsberg, explaining the results of a study.

In the second part of the FE&MALE Sports Conference, workshops were used to explore topics such as „Coaching & Training“, „Strategy & Structures“, „Media & Communication“, „Research & Science“ and „Respect & Safety“ in greater depth and to develop concrete solutions.

The most important quotes from Advantage Ladies, the FE&MALE Sports Conference:

Hans Niessl (Sport Austria President): „With the FE&MALE Sports Conference co-organised by Sport Austria, we are consciously taking concrete steps towards more diversity and real equal opportunities. Our goal is clear: to close the gender gap in sport step by step. For the fourth time, Linz was a central place of exchange where best practices were visualised, discussed and further developed.

 The long overdue, nationwide implementation of daily physical activity sessions would be a decisive lever for women's sport, especially in terms of sustainable impact. This would enable us to reach all children and young people equally - especially girls - and lay the foundations for lifelong sport and exercise behaviour.

 Against this backdrop, the fundamental question of funding for organised sport is also currently arising: As we all know, the budget talks between the ministries and the Ministry of Finance began this week - a crucial phase, including for all grassroots, elite, health and school sport. We have therefore emphasised the central importance of sport for an efficient and fit society to all relevant stakeholders. The budget negotiations themselves are now in the hands of the Ministry of Sport. It is well known that organised sport is supporting the current austerity package out of a sense of national political responsibility. At the same time, we would like to remind you that the State Secretary for Sport unequivocally assured the delegates of the Austrian umbrella organisations and professional associations at the General Assembly of Sport Austria that these measures would be limited in time. Politicians will have to be measured against this promise. Now is the time to initiate a budgetary trend reversal - for the future of sport as a whole and thus, of course, also for the strengthening of women's sport!“

Sandra Reichel (Tournament Director Upper Austria Ladies Linz): „I'm very pleased that we're basically on the right track in tennis when it comes to equality. Tennis-playing mums like Tatjana Maria or Elina Svitolina are real role models. It's so important for women's sport to have a role model. I'm still blown away by Lilli Tagger's performance yesterday. I hope that her success will get 1000 girls playing tennis again. Many people talk about the visibility of women's sport; here at Upper Austria Ladies Linz, this is really happening. This is shown by role models like Lilli, but also by coaches like Conchita Martinez or Francesca Schiavone. Our goal is for the sport to be less male-dominated and for women to be able to make a career out of it. But we can only make these changes together.“ 

Janine Flock (Olympic skeleton champion): „It makes me proud to be an ambassador for the FE&MALE Sports Conference. When I started skeleton, I slipped into a male domain. What I always appreciated about my coach Michael Grünberger was that he saw me as a person and an athlete and didn't make any distinctions. He took the time for me and I think that's the most important thing in the relationship between athlete and coach, that you act as equals. We women need the men and the men need us women, we should treat each other as equals, everyone has their strengths. It's about creating a framework in which the girls feel comfortable, in which they have the opportunity to communicate openly and certain topics are dealt with sensitively. We have to listen. The responsibility for this lies with all of us.“

Judy Murray (tennis coach): „The last time I was in Linz in 2019, Coco Gauff was a ‚superstar in the making‘, maybe that's the case again now with Lilli Tagger. When I started as a coach back then, there were no female physiotherapists, athletics coaches or video analysts in the Fed Cup, for example. But we need women in these positions to understand women. I believe in how important sport is for children. We shouldn't just focus on the superstars and professional sportswomen, but also not forget those who simply do sport for fun. I can only advise all parents to play and do sport with their children. That's my philosophy, just to play. It's about our children learning to love sport. Billie Jean King once said to me: ‚If you don't use your voice, nobody will hear you‘. I have always tried to use my voice for the good of women's sport. I would like to see more women as decision-makers. We need women at the head of the table who raise their voices and stand up for women in these positions. That would ensure more success for women in sport and more women in sport in general.“

Sarah Zadrazil (Austria's female footballer of the year 2025): „Football is very male-dominated. It's important to give women's football visibility. My role models were men. I'm delighted that we women can now take on this role model role. You see so many girls and boys in the stadium. But to be role models, we need this visibility. ‚Equal pay‘ is a difficult topic from my point of view. We're currently working more on ‚equal play‘, i.e. ensuring that we're allowed to work under the same conditions. Before we talk about equal pay, the conditions for this must first be created. There are many clubs that do not yet support women's football well enough. There is still a lot of room for improvement, especially in Austria. We need to improve across the board.“