O.N.A.K.A.I. Karate Ireland proudly supports the 20×20 movement presented by the Federation of Irish Sport. O.N.A.K.A.I. Karate Ireland have committed to all three pillars; increasing attendance, participation and visibility of women and girls in Karate. Although at participation and attendance, unlike in most sports, ration of female to male students and competitors is around 40/60%. Whilst we will strive to drive this number further and equalise number of female member and competitors, we recognise that we lack in female coaches, judges and referees as strong role models to drive membership and numbers of competitors further.
We have elected to form a Women in Sport subcommittee. The subcommittee will be tasked with developing a plan for Women and Girls in Karate, developing coaches, referees and membership as well as looking after our competitors and elite athletes. We have run our Women in Karate Taster, having run a successful campaign. The Event was a great success, attended by teens as young as 12. We run several workshops with a view to developing programmes at NGB and club level to develop their female members to coaches, athletes and referees.