The government plans to increase the number of women participating in sport so that Portugal can reach the European average for gender equality by 2030, the Secretary of State for Youth and Sport said on Wednesday.
“Gender equality is a priority for the government,” João Paulo Correia said in statements to journalists in Coimbra, where the National Paralympic Day celebrations take place, as part of the 14th anniversary of the Paralympic Committee of Portugal.
To bring 2030 within the European average, the government has set up a working group “between the areas of equality and sport, which will present public policy proposals and recommendations to sports organizations in January,” he added.
The working group is coordinated by Leila Marques, who was head of mission at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games “and is an advocate for the cause of equality in sport”.
According to the official, the government is “convinced that Portuguese sport will only grow until 2030 through the strengthening of female representation”.
“We want to see more women in sports, not only in the number of athletes, but especially in places of power. All modalities that will grow until 2030 will be those that bet on women’s sports,” he underlined.
The Secretary of State for Sport and Youth considered that Portugal has the conditions to achieve, within the deadline, the European average “in women as leaders and presidents of sports organizations, coaches in the various modalities, as referees and also in the media of sports”.
João Paulo Correia also announced that within a few weeks, the program contract will be signed with the Paralympic Committee of Portugal, so that Paralympic athletes for the first time receive the same funding as Olympic athletes during the preparation and participation period.
“This is an effort and an objective that the government had and it was the first time that the government has agreed to fully fund the amount proposed by the Paralympic Committee,” the official stressed, stressing that “social inclusion through sport and sport is adapted are a government priority”.
Public support for the preparation and participation in the next Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will amount to 9.2 million euros.
Source: DN
