At England Athletics we work to grow opportunities for everyone to experience athletics and running, to enable them to reach their full potential. Our vision is that athletics and running will be the most inclusive and popular sport in England, led by a network of progressive clubs and organisations and supported by a sustainable, respected and trusted governing body.
Diversity Action Plan
In January 2021 we updated our Diversity Action Plan which details our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. The document outlines the progress made since first launching the plan in 2017, in line with A Code for Sports Governance. We are committed to regularly monitoring our progress against the Diversity Action Plan and reporting on it annually.
- Download the Diversity Action Plan summary (PDF 600kB).
- Download the England Athletics Diversity Action Plan Annual Report 2021 (PDF 400kB)
This includes:
- Improved female and ethnically diverse representation within our own governance structure.
- Delivery of education and training for senior leadership teams and staff across equality and diversity, unconscious bias and mental health.
- Enhanced engagement with valued equality partners across the sport and beyond.
To improve equality, diversity and inclusion in athletics and running we will:
- Ensure that the principles of equality and diversity are owned and are embedded throughout the Leadership of England Athletics
- Improve our understanding of equality and diversity issues within our organisation by better understanding the equality profile of our sport and organisation
- Raise awareness of and embed the principles of equality and diversity throughout our organisation by regularly reviewing our policies, procedures and practices to ensure they are inclusive and do not discriminate; and provide information for clubs, coaches, officials and members to help them tackle inequality and discrimination in athletics and running
- Understand and tackle barriers for under-represented groups in athletics and bring athletics and running to new audiences. We will encourage all sections of society to participate in our sport
Our commitment to increasing diversity and inclusion across our sport can be demonstrated though:
Our current work to achieve the Advanced Level of the Equality Standard for Sport in 2021.- Our work as a signatory to the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation.
- Being a signatory of the Governments Sports Charter anti-homophobia and transphobia campaign.
- Our work to implement the recommendations of the ‘Let’s Talk About Race’ series and work as a signatory of the Sporting Equals Race Equality Charter.
- Our membership and work with the RACEquality Network.
We adhere to World Athletics Eligibility Regulations for Transgender athletes for area and national championships and associated qualification events, but we are also committed to ensuring that we provide support to all athletes and operate on a case-by-case approach on a local level in a way that seeks to balance the fundamental principles of safety, inclusion and fairness. Read the full statement from UK Athletics.
We are living in an era when we have to not only understand equality and diversity, but practice it by ensuring it’s at the centre of how we do things. As an athletics organisation to achieve this, we have to address the symptoms that create the gaps that exist in equality and diversity representation. I believe in leading by example by creating a diverse and equal workplace, we will be able to draw on a wide range of ideas from a workforce full of different skills, experiences, resources, talents and energies.
Anne Wafula-Strike, our Board Diversity Champion