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Deputy PM completes line-up of featured speakers for IWG 2022

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New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Sport and Recreation Hon Grant Robertson and a quartet of high-powered international sports influencers now complete the full line-up of featured speakers for the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport (IWG 2022) to be held in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland from November 14-18.

  • This announcement completes the final programme released today, which includes 220+ sessions and 500 speakers across four days. Registrations for the hybrid in person / virtual pass is now 23.59 NZT on Wednesday 9 November 2022. Virtual passes remain available until November 17, however participants are encouraged to finish any outstanding registrations ASAP, so they can receive log-in instructions and information early.
  • A PDF version of the full event programme can be downloaded here: IWG2022 Programme – Participant Version FINAL. A fully interactive version with session synopsis and speaker biographies can be viewed here.

The Minister for Sport and Recreation will be the main featured speaker on Day One of IWG 2022. He will give a call to action globally, summarise the extraordinary progress made in Aotearoa, New Zealand towards achieving gender equity in sport, and outline the challenges that still lie ahead.

Kereyn Smith ONZM, Muditambi Ravele, Payoshni Mitra and Annamarie Phelps (pictured left to right) – four female pioneers in global sports governance – complete the featured speaker line-up. They will appear together on Day Three, leading a highly strategic discussion on “Raising the Global Game”.

Commonwealth Games Federation Vice President, Kereyn Smith ONZM, will facilitate the discussion. Smith has just completed a hugely successful decade-long tenure as Chief Executive and Secretary General of the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) and New Zealand Commonwealth Games Federation and was one of the original founders of the International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport in 1994.

Described as the ‘golden woman of South African sports administration’, Muditambi Ravele is the founder and chair of the South Africa Women and Sport Foundation. A trailblazer for women in sporting governance roles in South Africa, she served as the first female chair of Boxing South Africa and is currently on the board of Cricket South Africa, among numerous other roles.

The Chief Executive of the UNESCO Global Observatory for Women, Sport, Physical Education and Physical Activity based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Dr Payoshni Mitra is a gender and sport scholar, a prominent athlete rights advocate, and a leading campaigner in the abolition of sex testing policies in women’s sport. She has more than a decade of experience working closely with female athletes across Asia and Africa addressing human rights violations in sports.

A member of Great Britain’s rowing eight at the 1996 Olympics, Annamarie Phelps CBE OLY is co-chair of the IWG UK Secretariat 2022 – 2026 and vice chair of the British Olympic Association (BOA). One of the UK’s most prominent sports administrators, Phelps chaired British Rowing from 2013 to 2018 and the British Horseracing Authority from 2019 to 2022.

The quartet will reflect on the geopolitical, global and social issues impacting women and girls, and opportunities for action. They will lay out challenges and possible solutions for those working to advance gender equity and equality in sport and physical activity globally.

“We’re thrilled to confirm such a high-powered line-up of speakers for IWG 2022,” says Rachel Froggatt, IWG New Zealand Secretary General and CEO of Women in Sport Aotearoa, Ngā Wāhine Hākinakina o Aotearoa (WISPA), the advocacy group delivering IWG 2022.

“Hon Grant Robertson made women and girls in sport his number one priority when he became New Zealand Minister for Sport and Recreation, so it will be fantastic to hear his views on progress made during this government’s tenure – and the challenges that still lay ahead.”

“And we are extremely fortunate to have such an experienced and knowledgeable collective to address the global state of affairs for women and girls globally. That is going to be a fascinating discussion, and I am keen to see how these leaders answer questions from the floor.”

The 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport is set to be the largest event in its 30-year history, surpassing the previous global attendance record set at Botswana 2018.

It will be the biggest sports conference to ever be staged in Aotearoa New Zealand, with over 1200 in person and 500 virtual participants confirmed from 300 organisations in over 60 countries.

The closing date to register for the hybrid in person / virtual pass is now 23.59 NZT on Wednesday 9 November 2022. This date may move forward should capacity limits be reached sooner; local organisers are now urging final registrants to get in quick, to avoid missing out.

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