Athletics is lauded as one of the few sports where men and women compete on a level playing field, and now behind-the-scenes women are starting to overcome the myriad hurdles that have prevented them from running the sport.

It took almost 100 years for female athletes to match the men in being able to compete in the same arena in an equal number of disciplines and for the same prize money at major championships.

Reaching this milestone was a marathon which only started back in the 1920s because the male-dominated global governing body, then known as the IAAF, wanted to control women’s sport. The IAAF wanted to maintain the established social order and fend off competition from the rival Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale, which was staging Women’s Games.

Read more at: https://worldathletics.org/women-in-athletics/news/world-athletics-female-leaders-gender-equity