World Rowing is proud to share its progress and commitment to advancing women in coaching, Following the 29th October IF Forum IOC IF Sustainability Session held in Lausanne, the IOC IFs Good Practices to encourage women coaches was published, including the WR Coach Development Programme case study.
Opening Doors and Building Pathways
Why do we need more female coaches?
There are many benefits to increasing female coaches, here are just a few:
• Increased female coaching role models will encourage young female rowers to move into coaching or sport administration roles beyond their time as an athlete.
• A diverse coaching team will relate to a broader reach of athletes and help with retention. Whilst some athletes may work better with male coaches, others with female, or just with those with a similar background. The more diverse the coaching team, the more athletes will be accommodated.
• More women coaches equates to more coaches.
• Diversity of minds coming together can bring more solutions, as every individual brings their own way of thinking, operating and problem solving.
• Diversity brings different talents and different skills to a team that others can learn from.
• More female coaches can help to create a more inclusive training environment for female athletes, leading to higher retention.
To create clear entry points for women in coaching, World Rowing adopted a dual approach since 2014:
- Gender Mainstreaming across the Development Programme, ensuring equality is embedded in all activities.
- Targeted Gender Equality Projects
The 2022 The World Rowing Women in Coaching Toolkit aims to guide recruitment, development, and retention of female coaches. It targets National Federations CEOs, boards, high-performance directors, and mentors.
A global network of Coach Educators, now 39% female is delivering courses across all continents.
Extra quotas and targeted support intend to support female coaches to attend regional, continental, and world-level events and camps.
High-Performance Capacity Building through initiatives like the WSLA pilot (2019), which evolved into the WISH programme in 2022, are instrumental to build confidence and competence in leadership and sport specific skills which are crucial to succeed in High performance contexts.
Impact So Far
The response from the Rowing community has been very positive. Since 2013 to 2025 data review allowed for systematic monitoring of participation:
- female coaches at club level increased from 26% to 34% (+8%).
- female national team coaches doubled from 13% to 27% (+14%).
- female coaches across all World Championships rose by 9%, now at 21%.
Culture and Confidence
Beyond programmes, cultural change is key. World Rowing across all its cross functional development areas works to promote environments where women feel recognised and supported:
- Sharing our vision and responsibility across teams and members.
- Providing practical tools and guidance to break barriers and foster diversity.
- Applying a gender equality lens systematically across all programmes and delivery methods.
Legacy and Inspiration
The new “IOC Good practices to encourage women coaches in IFs” will help us continue build momentum and adapt more good practices to our context, and sustain the engagement of leadership and staff for collective buy-in. Gender equality is not just about funding—it’s about commitment, culture, and collaboration.
Together with the IOC and other IFs, we can create a stronger, more inclusive future for sport.