The IOC encourages organisations to measure and monitor progress on gender equality. Regular evaluations are needed to understand change and to provide strategic directions to policy-makers and programme-implementers.
Two research projects have been carried out to investigate women’s leadership in the Olympic Movement. The goal of these studies was to provide feedback to the Olympic Movement on the implementation of the IOC policy on gender equality. Both studies were commissioned by the IOC Women in Sport Commission and conducted by the Institute of Sport and Leisure Policy at Loughborough University, and had the common objective of providing a clear picture of the current status of women in leadership as well as identifying barriers to the way forward.
The first study, "Women, Leadership and the Olympic Movement", was published in 2004, following the establishment of targets for women’s membership of executive committees. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the progress on the IOC policy related to women’s participation in leadership in the Olympic Movement. Specifically, this study looked at recruitment processes of women to leadership positions, career paths to leadership, women’s impact on organisations’ activities and overall decision-making, and the training opportunities given to women.
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The second study, "Gender Equality and Leadership in Olympic bodies", was published in 2010. This study identified a number of barriers that are still hindering women’s career paths and access to leadership positions and suggested a series of Key Performance Indicators as well as recommendations to assist organisations in improving gender equality in election processes and promotion procedures.