The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) has become the first world sports governing body to achieve EDGE Move certification for gender equity.
EDGE is a leading global assessment and business certification for gender equity. Certification involves a third-party review of representation across the pipeline, equal pay, effectiveness of policies and practices, and inclusiveness of an organisation’s culture.
As an integral part of the assessment, employees receive a comprehensive survey to assess perceptions of gender equity in the workplace.
Two years on from being certified to EDGE Assess – an initial independent validation and benchmark of an organisation’s commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) – the UCI claims that it is… ‘now able to showcase the progress made to reach the EDGE global standard in certain critical areas including policies, practices and pay.’
UCI has recently published a Charter for Gender Equality and revised its statutes to include minimum gender representation. Women now make up between a quarter and a third of members across the UCI Management Committee, UCI Commissions and continental executive committees.
The UCI has similarly introduced an enhanced Code of Ethics to protect athletes from any form of harassment as well as a Charter of Gender Equality for Official Ceremonies for UCI World Championships. It has also enforced minimum levels of live TV coverage for all UCI Women’s World Tour events.
The UCI’s actions are in response to objectives set out in its Agenda 2022, including increasing the number of women in management positions, and further leveraging third-party expertise to evaluate internal policies and procedures to remove gender bias. The federation is now working on establishing an Agenda 2030.
Amina Lanaya, the UCI’s first female Director General, said “As the first woman Director General of the UCI, I was very proud in 2019 when we became the first sports federation to obtain EDGE certification.
“With this next level of certification, EDGE Move, we have demonstrated that gender equity is truly part of our organisation. To achieve this, we went through an ambitious action plan, and I would like to thank all our staff for their work and involvement.”
Aniela Unguresan, Founder of EDGE Certified Foundation, said “We’re excited to facilitate the acceleration of the gender equity process with the UCI. They have a long history of being key players in the sporting world and they are to be congratulated on leading the race on equality where others are sure to follow.”
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