8th European Women and Sport Conference
Find, develop, promote women in sport - new strategies
The Cyprus Sports Organisation is pleased to have organised the 8th European Women and Sport Conference to take place October 9th and 10th 2009 in Limassol/Cyprus.
The theme "Embrace the Spirit" builded on the last conferences in Berlin (2002), Paris (2004) and Vienna (2006) and is a logical development of the deliberations there.
During the conference, the EWS Steering Group will award a prize for exceptional achievements for women in sport!
The new EWS chair is Ms. Amanda Bennnet/GBR, and steering group consists of representatives from Cyprus (co-chair), France, Germany, Romania, Serbia and Sweden.
The Cyprus Declaration(PDF
Size: 87.39 KB) was handed over to the next EWS Steering Group for further consideration.
The conference website with all information
8th European Women and Sport Conference 2009 
Following the 7th European Women and Sport Conference in Vienna under the presidency of Ms. Liese Prokop the EWS Steering Group worked intensively on the various tasks given.
The questions now to be answered are:
- how can women be spotted, developed and promoted (to decision making positions) in sport
- is the EWS needed for this and how
- how should the tasks be achieved
- which are the reference points to guarantee the moving in the right direction
-> in short, what is the strategy that has been set forth since EWS' appearance in 1994 and further for the next 6 years, how can it be implemented and how can success be measured and guaranteed.
This bundle of questions has led the Cyprus Sports Organisation as organiser of the 8th European Women and Sport Conference in October 2009 to consider the title and content of this conference:
Embrace the spirit - find, develop, promote women in sport. New strategies.
The main point is to concentrate on what has been defined as work of the EWS up to now, how to further improve this work (find, develop, promote) and to define strategies for the future.
This should enable the next EWS Steering Group to work with a concrete "handbook" (PDFSize: 87.39 KB) and (measurable) milestones. The "handbook" comprises everything that has ever been discussed for women and sport in Europe. All resolutions, discussions, ideas have been translated in a roadmap - the general strategy, EWS has given itself over the last 15 years. Now it is up the the next Steering Group(s) to fill it with life.
Evaluation points are 2011, 2013 and 2015, the next EWS Conferences. The 2009 conference is not only the starting point for this important process - and stands in line with the past conferences (Austria/Good governance in sport, France/Democracy and Germany/Gender Mainstreaming) - it will also be the occasion to review the "raison d'etre", the support in Europe and it will visualise the need of the EWS in the future.
At the biennual European Women and Sport Conference a women and sport award will be presented. The inaugural award will be made in Cyprus during the conference from 9 - 10 October 2009.