Women and Girls

Through surveys and direct contact with our female members and women involved in the sport, we have a clear understanding that, for many people, table tennis looks and feels like a space designed and dominated by and for men. This doesn’t negate that there are women and girls having fantastic experiences in the sport and that there are clubs, leagues, coaches and volunteers doing some great work to create inclusive spaces but, we cannot ignore that there are also females having very bad experiences in our sport and who are being put off playing and participating. Our insight shows that females would like to engage more in our sport and, when provided with the right opportunities, they do! So gender parity is not only important for our inclusivity agenda, but for the growth, development and future of our sport too.

Our commitment to females does not mean that male participation becomes less important – we will continue to work hard to develop opportunities for men and boys too – but we must acknowledge the disparity that exists. We are therefore wholehearted committed to #LevelTheTable for women and girls and, going forwards, a much higher percentage of our time, funding and energy will be directed towards increasing opportunities for females in our sport.