For immediate release – 5 August 2019
PRESS RELEASE
The WFDF Women in Sport Commission held its first ever regional workshop at the Asian‐Oceanic Ultimate
and Guts Championship (AOUGC 2019) in Shanghai on July 25. The event was well attended with 50 attendees
from 13 regional countries, with men making up a third of the group.
The aim of the workshop was to help people understand the importance of gender equality and equity in Disc
Sports, so that they can help develop their communities back home.
Caz Malone, who serves as a WFDF Board member and as the Women in Sport Chair, emceed the event,
alongside fellow WFDF Director‐and Women in Sport Commission member Yoonee Jeong, and a team of
notable regional facilitators: Alex Castro (Philippines), Alicia Lui (Hong Kong), Christina Hunter (Malaysia) and
Jools Murray (South Korea).
Malone said in the introduction to the gender equity workshop: "Every single person in the room can, and I am
sure will, make a contribution by spreading a better understanding of gender equality in their home countries,
and what you learn today can be an important part of that.
Yoonee Jeong explained the definitions for gender equality, equity, and discrimination to provide common
language for conversations.
Hunter and Castro explained how far women’s sports in Asia‐Oceania have come over the last 100+ years,
noting a turning point in 1992 when Chinese women dominated Olympic success for the first time, getting 11
golds out of a total of 15 for their country. They also referenced key regional role models, including Cat
Phillips, who plays both Ultimate Frisbee and semi‐professional Australian rules football, and was also one of
the participants at the workshop.
Chrissy Hunter said: "What we learnt is that across this incredibly diverse and vibrant region, there are similar
issues with countries at different stages of the journey to gender equality. What’s so exciting is by making
connections across these countries we can all learn from and with each other, to accelerate that shared goal."
Key Definitions
Gender Equity: Gender equity acknowledges the historic and current conditions that have marginalized
women and attempts to amend these past and current injustices and biases. The process of allocating
resources, programs, and decision making fairly to both males and females without any discrimination on the
basis of gender…and addressing any imbalances in the benefits available to males and females.
Gender Equality: Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities
across all sectors of society, including economic participation and decision‐making, and when the different
behaviours, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favoured.
Gender Discrimination: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) defines discrimination against women as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis
of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by
women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.
The International Olympic Committee is calling for 50‐50 representation for women and men and women for
the 2020 Summer Games in Japan. As WFDF member associations aspire to be part of the Olympics, working
on gender balance is essential. Thomas Griesbaum, WFDF Secretary said "We need to tap into the ability and
possibilities of women to make this sport even better."
Globally, sports fans are beginning to embrace women’s sports events too — with live audiences for elite level
sports events growing by 50% between 2017 and 2018 (Source: Two Circles)
For the people taking part in AOUGC 2019, working towards gender equity is already on their agenda. "This
session was a good realisation of where we are now and what we have accomplished, said Map Pangilian,
Team Captain Philippines Women’s Team. "I know there is a lot of work to be done still. But we are making
progress in terms of building female leaders, creating opportunity for more females to be active in these sports
and to build a culture that is highly encouraging for males and females alike. And it makes me really proud."
"WFDF is pleased to have supported this Women in Sport Commission Workshop on gender equity and
equality," stated WFDF President Robert "Nob" Rauch. "We had held a similar workshop at our World Ultimate
Club Championship in Cincinnati in 2018 and wanted to continue to provide our athletes and organizers with
the tools to better foster our support for this key value for our organization. We want to thank Caz and the
other Commission members for their efforts in organizing this very successful workshop. We hope that efforts
like this will continue to make us better in our pursuit of gender equality in Flying Disc Sports both on the field
and in our administrative organization."
Participants of the Women in Sport workshop have been asked to work with their communities and national
federation board members to come up with a national gender equity plan to be submitted to
caz.malone@wfdf.org by December 1.
About WFDF:
The World Flying Disc Federation is the international sports federation responsible for world governance of
flying disc (frisbee) sports, including Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Guts, and Individual Events. WFDF is a
federation of member associations that represent flying disc sports and their athletes in more than 85
countries. WFDF is an international federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the
International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and the International University Sports Federation (FISU), a member
of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the Association of IOC Recognised
International Sports Federations (ARISF), the International World Games Association (IWGA), and the
International Masters Games Association (IMGA), and it is a registered not‐for‐profit 501(c)(3) corporation in
the state of Colorado, USA.
For more information, please contact:
Volker Bernardi, Executive Director
World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF)
Enggasse 2a, D ‐ 55296 Harxheim
Mobile: +49 176 64 19 77 02, eMail: ed@wfdf.org
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