The Croatian National Olympic Committee (NOC) is starting to implement the rule of 40% women representation in its governing body, which is adopted in the Statutes of the NOC. This comes after the EOC recommendations regarding gender equality in sport organisations.

President of the NOC Commission for Gender Equality in Sports Morana Paliković Gruden warned about the real situation, expressed in figures:

“There are 126 members in the Croatian NOC Assembly, of which only 17 are women. Among the 23 members of the Council, there are only six women. These are trends that we need to change, and for that, we have the full support of the President Zlatko Mateša and Secretary General Siniša Krajač. It is mostly thanks to them that our NOC has three vice-presidents in the current mandate period, out of a total of four vice-presidential positions.”

As one of the vice-presidents of the NOC (along with Sanda Čorak and Blanka Vlašić), Morana Paliković Gruden does not hide her satisfaction with the decision of the NOC’s Council, aimed at achieving the most equal status of women in Croatian sports:

“We must never forget how much female athletes have contributed to the success of Croatian sports in the past three decades. After all, the most successful Croatian Olympian of all time is a woman – Janica Kostelić. With this decision of the NOC Council, we also give our contribution to all the positive developments that are taking place in that segment of the international Olympic movement. We wish that the national sports federations, county sports associations, as well as all other members of the NOC, follow us in this and believe that this will be reflected in other areas of social life in Croatia in the near future.”