no. 07-00-877/2025-02 date: 13. 1. 2026.

MINISTRY OF SPORT
Zoran Gajić, Minister

11070 BELGRADE
Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 2

Dear Mr. Gajić,

With the aim of achieving equality and protection against discrimination, the Commissioner addressed the Ministry of Sport with Recommendation of Measures No. 021-01-979/2024-02 of 21 May 2024, requesting the preparation of a draft strategic document for sports development and, in particular, the definition of an area or objective relating to the development of women’s sport and its promotion at all levels, taking into account the different personal characteristics of women in sport (such as age, health status, disability, etc.) for the purpose of expanding participation and improving women’s sport, achieving gender equality, and preventing and combating gender-based violence in sport, as well as, when creating measures and activities for the realization of this objective, taking into account the need to increase investment in women’s sport and to ensure and allocate funds for these purposes.

Acting upon this recommendation, the Ministry of Sport informed the Commissioner, by letter No. 1867097 2024 13800 003 001 000 001 of 28 June 2024, that the drafting of the Sports Development Strategy for 2025–2035 and the Action Plan for its implementation is underway, accompanied by a regular and precise data collection system through the conduct of research aimed at defining the current situation and setting the goals of the new strategy, and that, among other things, the adoption of a Decision on the appointment of a working group for the drafting of the Sports Development Strategy for the period 2025–2035 and the Action Plan for its implementation is also in progress.

In this regard, we take the opportunity to point out that the Commissioner’s practice has also identified a problem faced by female athletes who are not in an employment relationship and who become pregnant during their active sports careers. We particularly emphasize the position of female athletes who engage in sports on an amateur basis and finance their sporting and private existence exclusively through a sports scholarship, in the event of pregnancy. For example, a female athlete contacted us with a complaint, who is a member of the Serbian national team, a two-time European champion with a total of ten medals from European and world championships in her sport, a recipient of the Spartak Award, and for whom, over the past eight years, the Ministry of Sport’s sports scholarship for athletic development has been her sole source of income. The complainant states that during 2025 she competed for the Serbian national team while pregnant and points out that, given the legal nature of the scholarship, she has been left without means of subsistence because in 2026 she will not be able to engage in sports and receive the scholarship, as she is expecting the birth of her child.

The concrete example of the female athlete who contacted us is just one of many and clearly illustrates the uncertain position in which female athletes who are not in an employment relationship find themselves during pregnancy and after childbirth. In cases where a sports scholarship is the only support for professional engagement in sport (for example, when a sports club is unable or unwilling to employ the athlete), female athletes find themselves in a less favorable position during pregnancy and after childbirth. This situation affects only women in sport. In addition to the fact that pregnancy, after a certain period, becomes an obstacle to further engagement in sport and the achievement of sporting results, the athlete is also prevented for some time after childbirth from actively engaging in sport and maintaining fitness, that is, from continuing athletic development and competition. Depending on the period of the year in which a woman gives birth, it will also depend on whether she will be absent from the training process and competitions for one or two competitive seasons. In this way, a sports career and parenthood become mutually exclusive, which places or could place women in sport in a less favorable position.

Sport, as a powerful and influential social field, can simultaneously be a space of discrimination and a space of emancipation. Whether it represents an obstacle or an opportunity for women depends on society’s readiness to confront deeply rooted gender stereotypes, ensure equal resources, and support their full participation.

In this regard, the Commissioner recommends that the Ministry of Sport, through the strategic document currently under development, define an area or objective that would provide for the possibility of financial support for female athletes during pregnancy and after childbirth, who do not have an employment contract with sports organizations. Providing financial security to female athletes through a measure that would facilitate balancing private life with sporting obligations further emphasizes the need for comprehensive changes in order to achieve genuine gender equality in the sports sector.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Milan Antonijević