Women in Motorsports Conference Legacy Report published

The battle for equality across different sports is an ongoing one and motorsports are no exception, but like many others, progress is being made.

Last year, the FIM Women in Motorcycling Commission and FIA Women in Motorsport united forces to host the first ever joint event for Women in Motorsports in Finland.

The conference saw some 40 speakers and more than 100 representatives from 25 different countries across each and every continent.

One year on from that historic event, the 2020 Women in Motorsports Legacy Report was published on September 3rd.

Included in the report are the main findings of the conference, as well as dedicated messages from several speakers from that day.

Conference host and the first ever Moto2™ female team manager Vanessa Guerra was one of those who spoke about the changing role of women in the sport, and how we can maintain our charge towards equality in the future: “Women have been involved in motorcycle racing for many years but perhaps the more visible ones have been on the starting grid alongside the rider and bikes. A role that was purely created to showcase the sponsor logos as part of a marketing platform, but there are many other women involved in very different aspect of the sport.”

“In the past decade alone, we have seen an increase in women becoming mechanics, engineers and leadership roles, like in my case when I became the first ever Moto2 female team manager in 2010.”

“One of the main conclusions at the end of the conference was the importance of educating the younger generation, to not assign roles according to gender and to promote the sport at a young age for both men and women.”

One of the initiatives set up from that day was the FIA Girls on Track, a programme to encourage more 13-18-year-old girls to take up the sport.

“It is important to use famous riders like we do in Spain for example with María Herrera. When she is in the training camp talking or teaching the children, everyone wants to come”, said Paula Arevalo-Lopez, Spain’s Women in motorcycling Commission Director.

Many others were keen to share the success of the inaugural conference, including FIA President Jean Todt; “FIA is committed to creating a more diverse and inclusive culture across motor sport. The Women in Motorsports Conference successfully organised in Finland last year was a great networking platform for FIA and FIM to jointly promote gender equality, encourage gender-balanced participation, and empower women to reach leadership positions.”

You can read the full report here.