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“Real progress isn’t measured by isolated achievements, but by the ability to carry them into every context, including university sport”

14 July 2026
FISU Executive Committee Member Rosaura Méndez Gamboa with Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and his daughter President of the International Volleyball Foundation, Princess Ayah bint Feisal in Birmingham

Rosaura Méndez G., member of the Executive Committee of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), took part in the 9th IWG Global Summit on Women and Sport in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The gathering, organized by IWG with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as part of its commitment to gender equality, brought together more than 1,200 leaders, policymakers, athletes, academics and changemakers from around the world, cementing its position as the largest global summit dedicated to advancing gender equity in and through sport.

Beyond the breakthrough

Under the theme “Beyond the Breakthrough”, the Summit focused its agenda not on celebrating isolated successes, but on examining how proven ideas, policies and programmes are embedded, adapted and sustained across different contexts, driving structural and irreversible change for women and girls in sport and physical activity.

Over three days, the programme was organised around five key focus areas — leadership, participation, investment, innovation and visibility — featuring plenary sessions, practical workshops and continental sessions connecting realities from different regions of the world with global-level decision-making.

A gathering of the most influential voices in World Sport

The Summit — described by its organisers as the “Davos of Women’s Sport” — brought together a high-profile line-up of speakers from international sport governance, academia, investment and media. Notable figures on the main stage included IOC President Kirsty Coventry and World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe, who discussed the direction of global sport. Also featured were Olympic legends turned institutional leaders, such as Dame Katherine Grainger and Dame Denise Lewis, alongside international investor Michele Kang, who focused on the flow of capital into women’s sport.

Safe Sport: A cross-cutting theme

The protection of athletes from harassment and abuse was one of the themes running through much of the Summit’s discussions, echoing the work the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has carried out in recent years under its “Safe Sport” strategy. Since 2004, the IOC has advanced a regulatory framework that includes the Consensus Statement on harassment and abuse in sport (2016), the Consensus Statement on mental health in elite athletes (2019), and the IOC Framework for Safeguarding Athletes and Other Participants, the latter stemming directly from Olympic Agenda 2020+5.

This safeguarding agenda is led within the IOC by Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan (here with his daughter President of the International Volleyball Foundation, Princess Ayah bint Feisal), a member of the IOC Executive Board and Chair of the IOC Safeguarding Working Group since 2023, having previously chaired the IOC Prevention of Harassment and Abuse in Sport Working Group (2017-2023). Prince Feisal, also the founder of the peacebuilding organization Generations For Peace, has stressed that sports organisations “share an enormous cultural power to demonstrate leadership” in building safe environments for all participants.

FISU’s commitment to promoting leadership spaces for women

Representing FISU, Méndez G. joined this global conversation, bringing the perspective of university sport to discussions on women’s leadership, sports participation and the sustainability of institutional change in favour of gender equity. Her presence reinforces the organisation’s commitment to promoting leadership spaces for women within the international university sports movement.

“This Summit confirms that real progress isn’t measured by isolated achievements, but by the ability to sustain them over time and carry them into every context, including university sport,” said Rosaura Méndez G.

About the IWG Summit

Since the first IWG World Conference in Brighton in 1994 — which gave rise to the historic Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport, now with more than 600 signatories worldwide — the Summit has been held every four years in a different host country. Birmingham 2026 marks the first time the United Kingdom has hosted the event since its inaugural edition, and the next Summit is scheduled for 2030 in Brazil.

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