Snow Australia launches Women in Snowsports initiative

Snow Australia is excited to launch a new initiative in 2021 with the specific purpose of championing and empowering women working in paid and volunteer roles within the snow industry as well as competing at FIS level.

The Women in Snowsports initiative will be designed to create a supportive environment where women can learn and grow through professional development and networking opportunities. 

Snow Australia CEO Michael Kennedy said that Snow Australia has long prided itself as being gender neutral when it comes to opportunity for athletes and participation at all levels of our sport. 

“In fact, the majority of our high performance success over the years has been attributed to female athletes and our Winter Olympic Teams have consistently been equal in terms of gender representation.

“Disappointingly however, the gender balance seen in our pathways has not to this point translated into coaching cohorts and involvement in our technical committees both nationally and internationally (FIS). Snow Australia has for some time identified the need to address this imbalance and whilst significant gains have been made at the national Discipline Committee (NDC) level and Coach Academy programs over the past 12-18 months more can be done. 

“I welcome the opportunity to engage, promote and inspire more women to become involved in the administration and leadership of our sport. I am excited about this initiative and look forward to supporting it in any way I can,” said Kennedy.

Snow Australia National Alpine and Pathway Coordinator Rebecca Clark presented the initiative saying that the aim of the program is to ensure women can get together within a safe and collaborative environment where it's easier to exchange ideas, find opportunities and discuss solutions to their professional and volunteer challenges.

"With the Women in Snowsports initiative we'd like to provide a platform to connect women involved in snow sports. There is an amazing depth of talent in our industry and women don't always have the opportunity to establish meaningful professional relationships to exchange knowledge and access that wealth of experience. 

"For this project we will leverage development opportunities that exist within the community as well as invite experts who operate outside the snow sports industry to broaden our members' skill set. We also intend to provide mentoring opportunities to guide and encourage women's professional growth. 

"Ultimately, empowering and inspiring women to excel on their chosen snowsports path will produce positive results not only on a personal level but will also provide a tremendous contribution to the success of the sport they are involved in," said Clark. 

The project will kick-off with a consultation process which will ensure the program is tailored to the needs of women in snowsports who are involved in various roles within the snow industry, and provides useful outcomes based on actual needs. 

These roles include:

• Snow Australia Staff
• OWIA Staff
• Snow Australia and OWIA Board and Committee members
• Winter Sport Performance Services Network Staff
• Resort Staff
• Current Snowsports Instructors interested in the Coaching Pathway
• Coach Academy
• Club Staff and Volunteers within Administration, Boards/Committees, Coaching
• FIS Level Athletes
• Officials for FIS Level Events

A short survey is available online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/snowwomen. Women in the roles listed above are invited to participate and provide comments and suggestions until the 10th of February.