Policy Brief No. 6. Religion, Gender Equality and Sports Governance. Regulatory Challenges and Options for International Sports Bodies

• Pages: 53-58
• Author: Silvia Meseguer Velasco,Elena García-Antón Palacios

TARGET AUDIENCE

International sports organisations (IOC, international and national federations), public policymakers

with responsibility for sport and equality, legislators, legal practitioners, and professionals in inter-

national bodies working on human rights, gender equality and diversity management.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This brief examines the challenges that sports governance faces in contexts of growing religious di-

versity, with particular regard to gender equality. It argues that sports regulations on institutional

neutrality, competition safety or athlete uniformity can produce discriminatory eects, dispropor-

tionately aecting women from religious minorities or whose faith shapes their dress or physical

practices.

It proposes proactive public policies grounded in reasonable accommodation and objective criteria,

and recommends harmonising standards, preventing the instrumental use of neutrality or religion,

and adopting an intersectional gender perspective.

KEY POLICY QUESTION

What governance model should the Olympic Movement — the IOC, international sports federations

and National Olympic Committees — adopt to guarantee women’s equal access to competitive sport,

while ensuring the exercise of the right to freedom of religion does not confer competitive advantage

or aect the rights and equal conditions of other athletes?

53

GENDER EQUALITY AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE 2030 AGENDA:

TEN POLICY BRIEFS

Francisca Pérez-Madrid (coord.)

Dykinson, Madrid, 2026

POLICY BRIEF

RELIGION, GENDER EQUALITY AND SPORTS GOVERNANCE

REGULATORY CHALLENGES AND OPTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL SPORTS BODIES

Silvia Meseguer Velasco

Associate Professor of Law, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Elena García-Antón Palacios

Assistant Professor of Law, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

1

THE POLICY

PROBLEM

National and international sports competitions have become a site of intense conver-

gence between gender equality policies and the exercise of freedom of conscience and

religion. Sports organisations, both public and private, must reconcile four objectives

that are frequently in tension: (i) guaranteeing eective equality between male and

female athletes; (ii) preserving the safety and integrity of competitions; (iii) safeguar-

ding the autonomy of sport; and (iv) respecting athletes’ fundamental rights amid the

cultural and religious diversity present in competitions and clubs.

The global visibility of sport amplies the reach of these tensions. Decisions taken by

international federations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and respecti-

ve National Olympic Committees transcend the sports sphere and shape the eective