Anita White

Anita White (b. 5th March 1947)  is the Senior International Advisor to Japanese Women and Sport, a position she has held for the past six years.During this time  she has worked closely with Dr Etsuko Ogasawara to assist in the development of women and sport work and networks in Japan and Asia. She chaired the first Asian Women and Sport conference in Osaka in 2001 which saw the establishment of the AWG, and the second Asian Conference in Doha in 2003 attended by over 40 countries. She has also been centrally involved in the planning of the 4th World Conference on Women and Sport as a member of the  IWG  (International Working Group on Women and Sport) and the  Program Planning Group . She is the Program Coordinator for the  Conference  and has made regular visits to Kumamoto to work with officials from Kumamoto city and Kumamoto citizens in preparation for the conference. Anita  has wide ranging experience of sport at all levels in both governmental and non- governmental sectors: as an international hockey player, coach and administrator, as a lecturer and researcher in higher education, as a former Director of  Sport England , and as an advocate for equality in sport in national and international circles. Anita  now works as an independent consultant in the field of national and international sport policy and sports development, and is a Visiting Professor at  Loughborough University, UK.Recent work includes directing a joint research project on Women in Olympic Governance for the  International Olympic Committee , evaluating the  British Council's <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> international development programme for Young Leaders and mentoring younger women in middle management who aspire to become sports leaders in the future. <span class="refName" style="font-weight:bold;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;">Anita <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> is acknowledged as a leader and expert in the international Women and Sport movement. She<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> was responsible for the staging of the first international conference on Women and Sport organized by the  <span class="refName" style="font-weight:bold;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;">GB Sports Council <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> in 1994.Three lasting outcomes of the conference were the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport, an international strategy for women and sport, and the establishment of the  <span class="refName" style="font-weight:bold;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;">IWG <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> which  <span class="refName" style="font-weight:bold;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;">Anita <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> co-chaired from 1994 to 1998. She<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> regularly contributes to international conferences and fora on Women and Sport and has published widely on the subject. She was a founder member and former Chair of the  Women's Sports Foundation  (UK) and she is still actively involved in the work of this non- governmental organization.<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;">As Chair of the  <span class="refName" style="font-weight:bold;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;">UK Co-ordinating Group for Women <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> and Sport  she<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> was responsible for the development of the UK Strategy for Women and Sport which was published by UK Sport in December 2003.In 2005  she<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth 11 in recognition of  her<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;font-size:11px;line-height:17px;"> services to women and sport.