The International Paralympic
Committee (IPC) has released the shortlist for the 2022 International Women’s
Day Recognition, with winners to be announced on 8 March’s global celebration
of women and gender equality.
Three outstanding female candidates
each respectively make up the Leadership and Emerging Leadership category.
Three organisations have been shortlisted for the National Paralympic Committee
(NPC) and International Federation (IF) category.
The awards primarily recognise women
in the Paralympic Movement who inspire and emulate the Paralympic ideals and
serve as positive role models. Following hundreds of nominations, this year the
shortlisted women and organisations nominated come from Zimbabwe, Malaysia,
Iran, Botswana, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada and Mongolia.
The winners will be decided by the
IPC’s Women in Sport Committee, chaired by Rita van Driel, who said:
“The 2022 International Women’s Day
Recognition supports one of the IPC’s key strategic objectives, which is to
promote gender balance in leadership positions across the Paralympic
Movement. All of the women and
organisations nominated this year made exceptional progress in 2021. What is
clear to the Women in Sport Committee from all the Award applications we
received this year is that across the Movement are many women bringing
disability inclusion to the heart of governments, delivering change to the
sporting infrastructure of their country and having an impact for persons with
disabilities in their communities.”
LEADERSHIP
This category recognises sustained
and consistent leadership over a period of time, advocacy, overall
contributions and impact promoting and supporting women in sport. Candidates
considered included coaches, current or former athletes, administrators and
officials.
Oripa Mubika - Zimbabwe
Oripa Mubika was one of the few
female Para sport coaches in Zimbabwe before the country joined the IPC. As
Secretary General on NPC Zimbabwe she has facilitated the introduction of
sitting volleyball in 2016, increased female representation on the board to 50
per cent, and ensured that at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, NPC Zimbabwe has
their first female coach.
Ras Adiba Radzi – Malaysia
Ras Adiba Radzi is a serving senator
in Malaysian Parliament. She has represented Malaysia in Para badminton,
shooting and currently President of National Para Shooting Association. With a
commitment to inspire and transform the lives of persons with disabilities from
within Parliament she is driving change and in 2020 was chosen by their Prime
Minister in 2020 to represent Persons With Disability Community.
Professor Fatemeh Rakhshani – Iran
The current chairperson of the Asian
Paralympic Committee’s Women in Sport Committee has a substantial influence on
women in Para sport in Iran. A two-term vice-president of NPC Iran, she
increased the number of females in the Iranian delegation at the Paralympic
Games from less than five per cent at the London 2012 to 17 percent at the Rio
2016. Through her athleticism as a Para swimmer, Rakhshani also works to
involve communities in physical activity.
EMERGING LEADERSHIP
This category will recognise
early-stage career leadership, advocacy, overall contributions and impact
promoting and supporting women in sport. Candidates considered included
coaches, current and former athletes, administrators and elected officials.
Malebogo Molefhe - Botswana
Malebogo is a disability and gender
rights activist. A former national basketball player, through an initiative
called the ALIGHT Project she has been focusing on increasing participation of
women and girls with disabilities in programmes and addressing violence towards
them. She has been developing wheelchair basketball in Botswana and encouraging
participation of people with disabilities in sport and advocacy.
Yip Pin Xiu - Singapore
A multi-gold medallist across three
Paralympics, Pin Xiu has led an era of change for Singapore. An outspoken
advocate, Pin Xiu was the first Para athlete elected as a Nominated Member of
Parliament and has challenged the government to cultivate inclusive national
sport associations. Recognising her impact on the pushing forward the inclusion
agenda, in 2021 she was the first recipient of a new national award, the
President's Award for Inspiring Achievement.
Holly Robinson - New Zealand
After winning gold in the Women’s
Javelin Throw F46 at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Holly made numerous
community appearances, school visits and media requests, while continuing her
career as teacher aid at a school catering for children with impairments. After Tokyo 2020 Holly was awarded the Visa Award
when she demonstrated outstanding leadership by making a point of thanking
track the officials officiating at track and field events.
NPC/IF
This category recognises the
leadership, impact and effective change initiated by a National Paralympic
Committees (NPCs) and International Federations (IFs) who promote and support
equality and inclusion of women in sport.
Canada Paralympic Committee
NPC Canada and its CEO Karen O’Neill
is a driving force of the women in sport movement in the Americas region. Over
the last two years Karen has put a huge effort into developing a Women in Sport
programme to encourage more women into leadership positions in Paralympic
sport. She has maintained the contact and relationship of the women in the
group by creating a WhatsApp group and having bi-monthly calls.
Paralympics New Zealand
It is clear Paralympics New Zealand
is an equal opportunities employer: their Chief Executive and Board Chair are
both female; 57 per cent of their Board and 82% of their staff, 80 per cent of
their senior leadership team and 82 per cent of their classifiers are female
also. Their Chef and Deputy Chef de Mission for the New Zealand Paralympic
Teams for Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 are all female, while 88% of the 12
medals won at the Tokyo 2020 were won by women.
Mongolian Paralympic Committee
Under the leadership of Dr Nasanbat
Oyunbat, NPC Mongolia has managed to influence more Asian federations to
actively engage female coaches, referees and officials. Under her management,
she led organisations to develop a nationwide survey to deal with sexual
harassment among the female athletes. The results were distributed to
government institutions in Mongolia and has led to recommendations to national
federations that help protect female athletes.
The 2021 winners were Kate Caithness
of World Curling Federation (Leadership category), Iranian Para archer Zahra
Nemati (Emerging Leadership category) and World Para Powerlifting (National
Paralympic Committee/International Federation category).
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