GEORGE TOWN: Gender equity in sports across Asean remains far from ideal with glaring underrepresentation of women in leadership and coaching roles, said Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.

She said only 20% or fewer of accredited coaches in the region are women with most national sports associations still struggling to meet the 30% target for women’s representation in leadership positions.

“Coaching remains male dominated, often excluding women due to unconscious bias and a lack of role models,” said Hannah during the opening of the Asean Conference on Gender Equity in Sports 2025 yesterday.

“In Malaysia, of the 3,027 women coaches licenced under the National Coaching Licensing Scheme, only 602 are currently active.

“Our figures have stagnated, from 20% in 2022, 20.2% in 2023, 20.7% in 2024 and dropped to 17.4%* in May 2025.

To tackle these gaps, Hannah said the National Coaching Academy is working to increase these numbers, including the creation of a national registry of women coaches, where qualified coaches will receive structured support and continuous professional development.

She also stressed the need for every Asean member to develop time-bound action plans to transform intent into outcome.

“Gender equity in sports is not about medals but about access, visibility, recognition and dignity.

“Girls and women must have the same opportunity to engage, compete and flourish from community programmes to Olympic arenas,” she said.

In her speech, Hannah also raised serious concerns over safety in sporting environments.

“Since Malaysia launched its Safe Sport Code in 2023, a total of 59 complaints have been reported — 40 with the National Sports Council (NSC) and 19 with the Safe Sport Committee.

“To date, 1,187 organisations have committed to the Code and 3,769 coaches, staff and athletes have completed the Safe Sport training course under the National Coaching Academy.

“We have also mandated background checks for all coaches appointed by the NSC,” she said, adding that NSC will be organising a training session for 150 focal point officers from the National Sports Associations affiliated with the Olympic Council of Malaysia and the Paralympic Council of Malaysia in July.

Speaking on institutional presence to influence outcome, Hannah, who chairs the High-Level Committee (HLC) for the Malaysia Games (Sukma), then recalled being the ‘only woman at the decision-making table’.

“For Sukma 2024, the HLC last year signed off the final list of events for Sukma 2024.

“All events must get a minimum of six states to participate in order to be included.

“The Women’s Sepak Takraw Team Regu event had only five states participating and didn’t make the cut.

“Because I was at the table, the HLC took into consideration that women’s sports need extra support and we unanimously passed a resolution for the Women’s Sepak Takraw Team Regu event to be allowed to take place with only five states participating for that year,” she said.

Themed Leadership and Coaching, the four-day conference from June 23-26 aims to foster greater awareness and a stronger regional commitment to empowering women in sports with a particular focus on two critical areas, namely Leadership and Coaching.