FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2021
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, USA – World Lacrosse Finance and
Governance Director Sallie Barker MBE has been appointed to the Executive
Committee of the International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport. Barker will
serve as the European Representative on the IWG Executive Committee, following the
ratification of her nomination by the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation
(ENGSO).
Established in 1994, the IWG on Women & Sport is the world’s largest network
dedicated to empowering women and girls. Its purpose is to use the power of sport and
physical activity to drive positive social change for women and girls and improve their
health and wellbeing. The IWG on Women & Sport is fully aligned with the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals; in particular, Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality
and empower all women and girls.”
The IWG on Women & Sport developed and remains guardian of the Brighton plus
Helsinki 2014 Declaration, which now has the commitment of nearly 600 signatories
worldwide. World Lacrosse (WL) pledged its support and became a signatory in May
2019, when WL President Sue Redfern signed the treaty during SportAccord 2019 in
Gold Coast, Australia.
Every four years, the IWG on Women & Sport stages the IWG World Conference on
Women & Sport, the world’s largest gathering in the field. The 8th IWG World
Conference on Women & Sport will be held May 5-8, 2022.
A resident of Guildford, England, Barker was elected as Finance and Governance
Director for World Lacrosse in 2020. As a member of the Board of Directors, she is responsible for oversight of financial and governance matters for the international
federation for lacrosse. She brings more than 30 years of leadership experience in the
sport to her role with World Lacrosse, including serving as Chair of the 2017 Federation
of International Lacrosse (now known as World Lacrosse) Women’s World Cup Local
Organizing Committee.
Barker has long been active with the IWG on Women & Sport, having been in
attendance at the first ever IWG World Conference in Brighton in 1994 and been part of
the drafting of the ground-breaking Brighton Declaration and its update 20 years later, to
become the Brighton plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration.
“I am delighted to have been appointed onto the IWG Executive Committee and
honored that the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation has invested its
trust in me to lead the work of their Equality within Sport Committee and represent the
voice of Europe on the IWG,” said Barker. “I was involved with the organzation of the
first IWG Conference in Brighton in 1994 and much progress has been made since then
on increasing women’s involvement in sport. However, there is still a long way to go
and I am pleased to be able to play my part with IWG once again.”
##www.worldlacrosse.sport##
Media Contact: Darryl Seibel
Phone: 719-374-5546
Email: dseibel@worldlacrosse.sport
About World Lacrosse
World Lacrosse is the international federation for men’s and women’s lacrosse, responsible for providing effective leadership and governance of the sport internationally while supporting the continued growth of lacrosse worldwide. In November 2018, World Lacrosse was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The President of World Lacrosse is Sue Redfern of England.