World Athletics announced on Monday the International Women's Day launched a campaign to take further strides towards greater gender equality in sports.

The campaign called "WeGrowAthletics" was built by the world's athletics governing body to commit to advance further the role of girls and women in athletics in three core areas of the sport-empowering women in leadership positions, breaking with traditions and shining a spotlight on women's stories across its platforms.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: "Gender equality should no longer be a theoretical discussion in any organisation. We should all be taking action by identifying barriers, reviewing our policies and practices and creating clear pathways for women to rise, contribute and participate at all levels. "

"Athletics has historically led the way in gender equality since the beginning of the professional sport era in the 1980s with an equal programme of events and prize money for both women and men. We want the strides we have made in our sport, thanks in most part to trailblazing women on and off the field of play, to inspire others," said the former British Olympic champion.

In the aim of growing the number of women in leadership positions and achieving a gender-balanced council by 2027, World Athletics took the first step towards the goal at the 2019 elections where they appointed their first female vice president, a voting female and male athlete on the council and increased female representation on the council to 30%.

To break traditions with unconscious bias, the World Championships will be ended by a women's event for the first time in Oregon, the United States, in 2022.

"We have much more to do, but I am confident these pledges, together with those of our partners and stakeholders, will allow more women to hurdle historically established barriers on the way to greater gender equality," added Coe. 

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