Decision details

The original motion was moved by Councillor Scott and seconded by Councillor Scully.

It is resolved that:

(A)       Council note:

(i)         the City of Sydney is a council that promotes gender equity, inclusion and equal recognition;

(ii)        on 24 August 2020, Council unanimously supported a motion by Councillor Jess Miller requesting the Chief Executive Officer to investigate action the City could take to address the “Gender Play Gap”, in the design, usage and programming of the City’s sports and recreation facilities, including the application of the ‘gender mainstreaming’ approach (undertaken by the City of Vienna since the 1990s);

(iii)       the City of Sydney encourages grant and sponsorship applications from across the community, including people from diverse ethnic and cultural groups, people of all ages, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities and people with disability;

(iv)       all grant and sponsorship applicants are required to agree with the City of Sydney’s ethics framework including that they will not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender or sex in employment, marketing or advertising practices;

(v)        unconscious bias training and resources are available all staff engaged in the assessment of grant and sponsorship applications;

(vi)       gender balance is ensured on all grant and sponsorship assessment panels;

(vii)      when applications relate to projects with particular relevance to women, staff with relevant skills and experience are involved in the assessment process. This includes (but is not limited to) projects supporting women experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness and projects to support women experiencing domestic violence;

(viii)    following community feedback, the City has introduced verbal applications based on community feedback, with women being in the majority of applicants taking advantage of this opportunity;

(ix)       increasingly, NSW local governments are harnessing the opportunities of grant funding to promote and achieve gender equity, specifically by setting gender equality targets for fair distribution of sports grants to ensure equal representation of both men and women in sports;

(x)        Australia’s national gender pay gap is 13.8 per cent, due in part to the uneven distribution of sports funding awarded to male dominated sports organisations;

(xi)       50 per cent of Australian girls are quitting sport by the age of 15, compared to 30 per cent of their male counterparts;

(xii)      a petition ‘Equal Pay for Equal Play’ was lodged within the NSW Legislative Assembly in 2021, calling for gender equality to be made a mandatory condition to be satisfied in order for sporting organisations and clubs to receive state government grants, funding and the award of tenders;

(xiii)    the City’s commitment to investigate the application of the ‘gender mainstreaming approach’ to the development of the Sustainable Sydney 2050 planning to ensure that public spaces, sport, recreation and facilities are planned for, designed and implemented with women – particularly girls, female teenagers, young women and those who identify as gender non-binary;

(xiv)    the City’s commitment to investigate research opportunities to better understand if and to what extent this gender ‘play gap’ within our City, including usage of skate parks, outdoor gyms, basketball courts, indoor studios, tennis courts and community fields;

(xv)     the City’s commitment to investigating ways in which public space design and programming can more equitably provide for girls, female teenagers, women and those who identify as non-binary, providing equal opportunities to participate, thereby contributing to our realisation of a ‘City for All’; and

(xvi)    the City’s responsibility to set an example to other local government areas by committing to achieving greater gender equality within this Council term;

(B)       Council commits to and adopts Goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals, namely, ‘gender equality’ and applies this to the distribution of City grants; and

(C)       the Chief Executive Officer be requested to:

(i)         consider, as part of the City of Sydney’s review of the Grants and Sponsorship Policy, including in the standard assessment criteria for all grant and sponsorship programs a requirement that applicants demonstrate evidence of diversity, inclusion and equity, in their organisation, and in the planning and delivery of their project;

(ii)        inform Councillors via the CEO Update of action taken to date to address the “Gender Play Gap”, including the City’s community engagement strategies to enhance the participation, engagement and ongoing support of women and girls at all levels of competition in all sports and activities;  and

(iii)       adopt, as part of the City’s communications strategy, gender equity with respect to featuring women and girls through City of Sydney communications and social media.

The motion, as varied by consent, was carried unanimously.

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