Member's statement: Sport: Equality, Fairness and Safety for Women and Girls

Member's statement by Ms Diane Forsythe on 14 October 2025.

MLA

Ms Diane Forsythe

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

14 October 2025

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Sport: Equality, Fairness and Safety for Women and Girls

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5180530

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Women and girls who participate in sport in Northern Ireland are entitled to equality, fairness and safety. That sounds like common sense, but, unfortunately, such things are not guaranteed. They are not happening in practice, which is why I have been working on a private Member's Bill to address those issues and the many associated ones. The consultation on the proposed Bill will be open until Friday 24 October. I have engaged with a number of organisations, groups, clubs, schools and individuals, and I thank all those who have engaged with me so far. Some key issues have arisen across the three main themes in the Bill. First, on equality of access, there are many barriers in place for women and girls who want to participate in sport, such as access to funding, a lack of facilities, extra kit and complexities, periods and pregnancy, the perception of women and girls doing sport, and the additional cost involved. The Female Sports Forum recently issued a report that outlines a lot of the issues. Equality issues, such as equality of access, are important and need to be addressed. The second theme is safety and safeguarding. There are significant safeguarding issues across sports here, particularly for our young girls. From speaking to organisations, it became worryingly apparent to me that AccessNI vetting checks need to be improved across the board. I would love to see that matter addressed. Women also feel unsafe when they are out alone for exercise and in the evenings. There is a widespread safeguarding issue because of the lack of single-sex spaces and changing and showering facilities. That is also an issue of key concern that needs to be addressed. The third theme of my private Member's Bill is fairness. Women and girls should be afforded the opportunity to participate in fair competition so that they can excel and be rewarded for their success by competing against other biological females. Every woman and girl should have the opportunity to participate fairly in their sport and be rewarded when they are the best in their category. In spite of the many barriers, women's sports and girls' sports are thriving. At the weekend, the Northern Ireland Football League Women's Football Awards recognised Valley Rangers Ladies and Girls FC and Moneyslane Ladies FC from my constituency, which was brilliant to see. I want to be able to do more, however. Women and girls in Northern Ireland deserve to have equality, fairness and safety when they are trying to access and to participate in sport. I encourage everyone to continue to engage, to reach out to me and, please, to take part in my consultation to feed into it. Together, we can bring change forward.

452 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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