The Fair Access Policy requires community sporting facilities to be made available for everyone.

Ultimately, this means that women and girls, as well as men and boys, should have fair and reasonable access to the ‘best’ training and game times as well as to social and change room facilities.

But why do we actually need this change? Sport is a core part of our lives in Victoria. Everyone has the right to fully participate and reach their full potential.

Without this change, women and girls will continue to face unfair circumstances and experience more barriers to sport than men and boys. This creates an unequal playing field. Victoria has the chance to lead the country on this – so join the movement and show your support!

Amazing, so you’ve already started on your journey to creating an inclusive environment for women and girls!

The Fair Access Policy helps you extend upon this by ensuring that grounds and facilities are accessible for all genders.

Unfortunately, it is still common for men and boys to be given the best and most popular training times as well as being allocated to the best and newest facilities.

The Fair Access Policy will support clubs to give everyone an equal opportunity to use the best facilities at the best times.

Yes and no. The Fair Access Policy is about considering the needs of women and girls in addition to the men and boys at your club.

The policy does not ask you to take away time from the men or boys, it just asks that consideration is given to women and girls when scheduling games or training sessions.

Remember, you are one club – so the success of all teams is what you’re striving for and you need to fairly equip everyone for this!

Men have a vital role to play in building a world that is gender equal – and there are many men who are already working towards this. Being open to change and shifting away from tradition is a simple way that men can help.

Afterall, if we all left things ‘the way they’ve always been’ then the world would be stuck in the past. It’s time to make new traditions, and who knows, perhaps you’ll find a way that works best for everyone.

Equality is not negotiable in Victoria. Sport and active recreation provide fundamental opportunities for enriching our communities, and these opportunities must be available on an equal basis to all members of our community.

Unfortunately, at the moment that is not always the case. And that needs to change.

Gender equitable access and use policies and processes will be a key driver for procedural and cultural change to ensure the full benefits of sport and recreation are available to all. In fact, removing key barriers to the participation of women and girls in sport and active recreation is arguably the single biggest growth opportunity for this sector.

In addition, with sport and active recreation being one of our most visible sectors, advancing gender equality here is a key lever to driving gender equality more broadly in our society.

The Gender Equality Act 2020 requires Victorian organisations, including local councils, to take positive action towards achieving gender equality and consider and promote gender equality in their policies, programs, and services.

Policies, programs and services that relate to community sport and recreation are considered to have a direct and significant impact on the public. As such, local governments are required under the Act to complete Gender Impact Assessments and to consider and promote gender equality in these community sport policies, programs and services.

This is where the Fair Access Policy Roadmap comes in - it outlines the key steps on this journey and provides guidance to fulfil these requirements.

For more information about the Fair Access Policy Roadmap please visit: Change Our Game | Fair Access Policy Roadmap

Commencing in August 2022, the Fair Access Policy Roadmap is a three-year phased approach to support 100% of local governments in Victoria to have gender equitable access and use policies (or equivalent) in place for community sports infrastructure by October 2024.

Importantly, from 1 July 2024, the eligibility criteria of Victorian Government programs supporting the funding of community sports infrastructure will require gender equitable access and use policies to be in place.