ONOC President Dr Robin Mitchell attributed the 100 percent gender balance in its Executive Board amongst several other impressive above 100 percent achievements to the progressive work of its 17 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the work of its Equity Commission led by Ms Helen Brownlee. 

‘ONOC will always be only as good as, and inclusive as, and dynamic as its Members and Executive body make it - in terms of Gender Balance and the score is very positive,’ Dr Mitchell said in a statement.

‘However, Gender Balance alone is not enough. This is why we will pay attention to the finer technical details that will ensure that women in sport leadership have their perspectives heard and that this is also applied to every decision made and issue discussed,’ he said.

Dr Mitchell further stated that ONOC needs to work harder to ensure more women can make it to leadership roles in the region’s National Olympic Committees, saying that its Equity Commission maintains great work in promoting gender equality but mainstreaming is needed.  

In a first for ONOC in its 40-year history, Dr Mitchell announced Five New Commitments to Gender Equality in the new Quadrennial running from 2021 to 2024. He announced ONOC making specific commitments to:

1. Participating in the Review of the Pacific Leaders Gender equality Declaration Review to advocate for women in sport in its next iteration.
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2. Strengthening internal ONOC gender data by disaggregated data frameworks, collation and indicators in our operations and programmes in order to make women and girls more visible, and enable the production of evidence-based  information to facilitate design of solutions to existing and emerging challenges. 
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3. Adopting gender neutral language progressively over the next four years in a process of designing communications guidelines and capacity-building of staff and members using primarily digital platforms. 
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4. Strengthening portrayal of women in sport by working toward balanced and fair representation of both women and men sport and athletes in our Communications and Media products. 
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5. Leading by Example in the above areas and in capacity building our NOCs on the same. 
   

He added these were not new initiatives within the Olympic Movement, however, they were new in terms of an articulated Quadrennial Commitment toward Gender Equality in sport in Oceania from a Secretariat level. 

The ONOC 2021 Gender Balance Scorecard highlights include 100% Gender Balance in Executive Board Membership and Oceania IOC Membership, 80% in Heads of Departments, and above 100% Gender Balance in Staff, Commissions Membership, and Heads of Commissions to the favour of women. 

For more information go to the ONOC 2021 Gender Balance Scorecard and the ONOC Equity Commission Page.