As Paris Games cheer gender equity, female Paralympians face 'double marginalisation'

By Amy Tennery

PARIS (Reuters) - As organisers and fans celebrate the start of the first "gender-equal Games" this month in Paris, Paralympic athletes still face multiple barriers to achieving the feminist dream, experts say.

The 2024 Olympics will mark a significant milestone when they kick off on July 26, with an equal number of spots allocated to female and male athletes for the first time after years of effort by the International Olympic Committee.

"That headline alone isn't including the Paralympic (Community)," said retired Paralympian Alana Nichols, a three-times gold medallist in basketball and alpine skiing.

"There's an entire group of athletes that aren't being talked about."

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) expects about a 55% to 45% split between male and female competitors in Paris.

Nichols competed at her last Games in 2016 and took her advocacy work to the Women's Sports Foundation, serving a term as president of the non-profit organisation whose Scout Bassett Grant provides financial support for athletes with disabilities.

Nichols said not enough women and girls were entering the para-sport pipeline to push the Paralympics to an equal level of gender participation.

"It's kind of this self-reinforcing process that happens where women, I think, with disabilities have far less media coverage and access," the American said. "There's fewer women that are seeing the potential that they could reach."

Craig Spence, the IPC's chief brand and communications officer, said there will be 1,860 female slots for the Paris Paralympics, a vast improvement from the 990 available at the 2000 Sydney Games but still unequal between men and women.

"With us, we're almost dealing with double marginalisation: the marginalisation of persons with disabilities all around the world, and this marginalisation of women as well," he said.

"So we have that two layers that we're trying to deal with in certain countries."

The global governing body has directed "significant sums" toward developing the world Paralympic movement since 2016, helping level the playing field between smaller countries and more developed National Paralympic Committees.

Like Nichols, Spence sees grassroots investment as the key to getting more women into adaptive sport.

"When National Paralympic Committees take grants from us to implement development programs, we're telling them, 'You've got to deliver 50/50 and if not, you need a very good reason on why not," he said.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)