Paris 2024: The first Games to achieve full gender parity (2024)

On International Women’s Day (8 March), Olympics.com looks at the progress made towards gender equality at the Olympic Games and assesses some of the upcoming challenges.

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Gender EqualityIOC News

Paris 2024: The first Games to achieve full gender parity (1)

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The Olympic Movement has made great strides with regards to gender equality over recent years. Paris 2024 will be the first Olympics in history to achieve numerical gender parity on the field of play, with the same number of female and male athletes participating in the largest sporting event in the world. This key achievement was made possible due to a large number of initiatives led by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and delivered in partnership with Olympic Movement stakeholders, such as Paris 2024, International Federations, National Olympic Committees and broadcasters.

“The progress is nice,” said fencing World Champion Ysaora Thibus, who is deeply involved in addressing gender equality issues in sport, before looking forward to the next challenges. “There’s also much to improve with everyone involved in sport, including other employees and leaders.”

To mark International Women’s Day 2023, Olympics.com takes a look at some of the achievements the Olympic Movement has made regarding gender equality.

Olympic Movement: Achievements in gender equality

  • Paris 1900: Female athletes first took part in the Olympic Games, four years after the first modern Olympics took place in Athens
  • 1996: Promotion of women becomes a mission of the IOC and is enshrined in the Olympic Charter
  • Tokyo 2020: The last edition of the Games were the most gender-balanced to date with 48.7 per cent of athletes women. At Tokyo 1964, only 13 per cent of the athletes were women.
  • Tokyo 2020: Following a rule change allowing one male and one female athlete to jointly carry their flag during the Opening Ceremony, 91 per cent of NOCs had a female flag bearer
  • Tokyo 2020: Three disciplines achieved gender balance (BMX racing, mountain biking and freestyle wrestling)
  • Beijing 2022: The last Olympic Winter Games were the most gender balanced to date with 45 per cent female athletes
  • Paris 2024: Out of the 10,500 athletes participating in the Games, 5,250 will be men and 5,250 women. These Games will be the first to reach full gender parity in terms of number of athletes.
  • Female IOC membership currently stands at 40 per cent, up from 21 per cent at the start of the Olympic Agenda 2020
  • Youth Olympic Games: The Youth Games Buenos Aires 2018 and Winter Youth Games Lausanne 2020 reached full gender parity in overall athlete participation (2,000 athletes per gender in 2018 and 936 in 2020)
  • Female representation on the IOC Executive Board stands at 33.3 per cent, versus 26.6 per cent before the Olympic Agenda 2020
  • 50 per cent of the members of IOC Commissions positions have been held by women since 2022, compared with 20.3 per cent prior to the Olympic Agenda 2020. In addition, a record high of 13 of the 31 commissions were chaired by women in 2022.

Paris 2024’s commitment to gender equality

Today, only one per cent of sports facilities in France are named after women. In order to contribute towards change, 70 local authorities certified “Terre de Jeux 2024”, with the assistance of Paris 2024, have committed to renaming their sports facilities with the names of prominent women.

On International Women’s Day (8 March), the city of Livry-Gargan in the suburb of Paris will name its football pitch “Marianne Mako” to pay tribute to the iconic sports journalist who passed away in 2018.

As the organiser of the world’s biggest sporting event, Paris 2024 is working to improve the position of women in sport. While female athletes first competed at the Games at Paris 1900, France is preparing to host the first Games with full numerical gender parity on the playing field. After choosing a woman’s face for its emblem, Paris 2024 has developed a schedule for the Games that ensures balance between genders for “prime time” sessions in order to promote women’s sport to the public, particularly young girls.

“Because equality also involves visibility, the renaming of these sports facilities with women’s names is a key challenge,” said Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024. “We thank the local authorities working with us who, through these symbolic actions - which are not only strong but also concrete - contribute to making sport more inclusive and equal.”

Further challenges for the Olympic Movement

While the same number of female and male athletes will compete at Paris 2024, there is still a real gender gap across all leadership roles at the Olympic Games, such as that of Chef de Mission, Technical Official and coach. At Tokyo 2020, only 13 per cent of coaches were women and 10 per cent at Beijing 2022.

The IOC has launched many initiatives to address this issue, including working in partnership with International Federations, NOCs and Organising Committees to open up more coaching roles and pathways to women, such as the WISH programme (Women in Sport High Performance Pathway) which is funded by Olympic Solidarity. The programme aims to provide training to 100 female coaches in the lead-up to Paris.

The IOC is also committed to going a further step by implementing an ambitious 2021-2024 plan.

In May 2021, the IOC approved 21 Gender Equality and Inclusion Objectives for 2021-2024. These objectives build on the progress achieved as part of the Olympic Agenda 2020 and the IOC Gender Equality Review Project and set out actions to help achieve Recommendation 13 of the Olympic Agenda 2020+5.

Based on consultations with internal and external stakeholders, and taking into account the global context, the objectives centre around five focus areas: Participation, Leadership, Safe Sport, Portrayal and Resource Allocation, and are categorised into the IOCs three areas of responsibility: the IOC as an organisation, the IOC as owner of the Olympic Games and the IOC as the leader of the Olympic Movement.

Paris 2024: The first Games to achieve full gender parity (2024)

FAQs

Paris 2024: The first Games to achieve full gender parity? ›

Half of this year's Olympians are women for the first time in the history of the Games. This year's Olympics are the first in history to reach full gender parity. Of the 10,500 athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, 50% are men and 50% are women.

What is the gender parity at the Paris Olympics 2024? ›

A more gender-balanced number of medal events, with the competition schedule comprising 152 women's events, 157 men's events and 20 mixed-gender events. This means that more than half of all medal events at Paris 2024 will be open to female athletes.

How does Paris 2024 aim to become the first ever gender equal Olympics? ›

That's in part, the International Olympic Committee says, because this year it has achieved "full gender parity on the field of play," which it defines as having set a quota to distribute competition spots equally to female and male athletes, with a goal to have female athlete participation at 50% — 2% more than ...

Why is Paris the first gender equal game? ›

Paris 2024 set a milestone as the first Olympic Games to achieve full gender parity, with the International Olympic Committee distributing quota places equally to female and male athletes (50:50) for the first time since the modern Olympics began in 1896.

Is the 2024 Olympics mixed gender? ›

More than a century later, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are targeting gender parity in the same city where women made their Olympic debut in 1900. The IOC set a goal of a 50-50 split among the more than 11,000 men and women, including backups, registered to compete from July 26 to August 11.

What does full gender parity mean? ›

When males-to-females ratios are calculated instead, the label 'sex ratio' is used instead of 'gender parity'. In the context of gender equality, gender parity refers to the equal contribution of women and men to every dimension of life, whether private or public.

What is the issue with Paris 2024 Olympics? ›

Participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes
  • Participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.
  • Potential for neutral athletes.
  • Threatened boycotts from other nations.
  • Sporting federations' recognition and designation of athletes.
  • ROC suspension.
  • Participation of Israeli athletes.

What Olympic sports are men only? ›

Throughout Olympic history, there have been a number of events that are exclusively for women, such as rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming, although there are many more male-only events, such as the pommel horse and rings, and there is a larger number of male weight classes in weightlifting and combat events.

What is the difference between gender parity and equality? ›

Parity means that each gender is represented equally. It is an instrument at the service of equality, which consists in ensuring the access of women and men to the same opportunities, rights, opportunities to choose, material conditions while respecting their specificities.

How many female athletes are in Paris in 2024? ›

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be the first to achieve total gender parity. From 26 July to 11 August, 5,250 male and 5,250 female athletes will compete in the 33rd edition of the modern Games.

What is the parity in the 2024 Olympics? ›

This year's Olympics are the first in history to reach full gender parity. Of the 10,500 athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, 50% are men and 50% are women.

Is gender equality an issue in France? ›

Equality is one of the fundamental ideals underpinning the French Constitution. The principle of gender equality was introduced in the Preamble to the 1946 Constitution, which, like the 1958 Constitution, referenced the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.

Why pink in Paris Olympics 2024? ›

The goal, they say, was to not overwhelm observers with the glaring hues of many previous Games. Paris, Yvinec says, is about “enchantment,” and putting bright colors such as red would be “a bit clashy,” so she and Roncin selected what she calls “sophisticated colors that are actually matching the city itself.”

Who is the non-binary Olympian? ›

SAINT-DENIS, France — Nikki Hiltz has a superpower, they said: being queer. Hiltz – who identifies as transgender/non-binary and uses "they/them" pronouns – will be the first trans/non-binary person to participate in a track and field final at the Olympics on Saturday during the women's 1,500-meter run.

Is there gender equality in the Paris 2024 Olympics? ›

The 2024 Paris Olympics will make history by achieving numerical gender parity on the field of play, ensuring equal representation of male and female athletes. In 1900, Paris made history by welcoming women to compete at the Olympic Games for the very first time.

Can intersex people be in the Olympics? ›

In 2018, World Athletics began requiring intersex women to medically or surgically alter themselves in order to be eligible, which could prevent them from attending events that serve as Olympic qualifiers. sem*nya has refused to take hormone medication, which saw her banned from participation.

How many male and female athletes are in the 2024 Olympics? ›

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be the first to achieve total gender parity. From 26 July to 11 August, 5,250 male and 5,250 female athletes will compete in the 33rd edition of the modern Games.

What is the gender inequality in Paris? ›

Parisian women over 50 earn 32% less than Parisian men of the same age. The gap is narrower among people between 26 and 50, but remains significant: with women earning 15% less than men. It is among the younger population that wage disparities are the lowest, women under 25 earn 10% less than men of the same age.

What percentage of the Olympics is female? ›

The Long Road to Olympic Equality
Summer Olympic Games% Share of Female Athletes% Share of Male Athletes
20124456
20164654
20204852
20245050
26 more rows
Aug 1, 2024

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