Anita White, Celia Helen Brackenridge

In 2010 the University of Chichester decided to establish an archive on the international women and sport movement. This decision was based on the potential donation of documents from Dr Anita White and Professor Celia Brackenridge, two individuals associated with the university who had been centrally involved in the leadership and development of the movement since 1990.

The International Women and Sport Movement is said to have been born out of a decade in which increasing globalisation brought together women from across the world in the practice of sport (Hargreaves, 1999, p.462). It does not refer to any one organisation, body or country, but it is generally agreed that a landmark event and major catalyst in the movement was the first international conference on women and sport which took place on 5-8 May 1994. This event forms a focus of this archive which also covers its precedents and antecedents. The conference was organised by the British Sports Council, supported by the International Olympic Committee and brought together 280 policy and decision makers from 82 countries. Dr Anita White was Chair of the organising committee and Celia Brackenridge a keynote speaker. The conference focussed on the issue of inequality in womens practice of sport and sought to accelerate the process of change towards gender equity in and through sport. A major outcome of the conference was the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport which has come to have world-wide currency and been endorsed by many countries and organisations. The declaration is addressed to all government and non-government organisations who are responsible for, or who are involved with, women and sport. The principle aim of the declaration was and continues to be the development of a culture which both enables and values the involvement of women in every aspect of sport. Material relating to the declaration can be found at reference WS/UK/2/1/1 and WS/UK/2/1/6. Other outcomes of the conference were an international strategy to advance women and sport globally, and the formation of an International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) charged with carrying forward the work and made up of representatives from key governmental and non- governmental agencies from all continents. Since 1994 the IWG has staged a quadrennial international conference.

...