How Can India Build An Equitable Future For Women In Sport? Expert Decodes

‘Competence has no gender, no ethnicity, no age and no colour.’
Globally, March 20, 2025, was labelled by many as an "extraordinary day" in sport as Kirsty Coventry became the first female president of the International Olympic Committee in 131 years. It was a huge advancement towards closing the gender gap off the field.

As far as on-field activities are concerned, the 2024 Paris Olympics became the first in history to achieve gender parity, wherein more than half of all medal events were open to female athletes.

In India, on August 18, 2025, the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 (Act) received presidential assent and found its place in The Gazette of India.

The Act, inter alia, promotes gender equity by ensuring that women are well represented (a minimum of 4 members) on the executive committees of National Sports Bodies.

In 2022, we saw the Table Tennis Federation of India announce equal prize money for both men and women, which was a first-of-its-kind move, and more recently, i.e., at the start of 2025, the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) announced equal match fees for its centrally contracted male and female players.

While all of these are forward-looking steps, we continue to witness disparity (at least on the face of it) in several spheres.

Women in sports: A race to equality

A lot was recently said about the BCCI awarding ₹51 Crores to the ODI world cup winning women’s team, whereas the T20 world cup winning men’s team was awarded a sum of ₹125 Crores. 

One can argue on both sides of the difference in the value of reward – ₹51 crores by no means is a small amount, and the men’s team sure does enable a larger chunk of the revenue for the BCCI; therefore, the higher reward only seems fair.

However, building an equitable future for women in sport does require transformative action, and so, for a body regarded as one of the richest in the world and one that could easily afford this spend, an equal reward would have sent a strong message in the right direction.

Though robust policies and legal frameworks are essential to break down entrenched gender biases in sport, success depends not only on legislation but on shifting societal attitudes about female athleticism.

Some of the key steps to enable this shift may be:

Increasing media coverage to spotlight female role models

An activity previously witnessed in spurts, i.e., each time an Indian female athlete won a medal (P.V. Sindhu, Mary Kom, Sakhi Malik, Mirabai Chanu, Manu Bhaker, to name a few), they were spoken about for a few weeks, and the stories eventually start to die out, which will spring again closer to the next Olympics.

The need of the hour is to do it continuously - the momentum that is currently getting built in the country with the World Cup win, one needs to be built on this narrative (not just in cricket but female athletes at large).

Educating communities

Families and coaches tend to play a huge role, at a young age, in promoting play. Therefore, a concerted effort must be made to challenge stereotypes and encourage girls’ participation at every level.

Conducting studies and publishing policy outcomes

The result of women's participation, i.e., if on the field, the resultant upswing in health benefits (something as basic as the decline in PCOS numbers or, for that matter, positive impacts on mental health) and if off the field, the positive outcomes on the culture and dynamics, strategic planning and enablement of processes within bodies.

Engaging male allies 

Men (athletes) who are role models should act as advocates to break barriers and promote equity.

It is only through comprehensive policy reform, allocation of funds and other resources, coupled with cultural transformation, that society can build an equitable future for women in sport.

Authored by Aahna Mehrotra, Founder, AM Sports Law & Management Co. | Views expressed by the author are their own.