Kate Johnson

If they can't see it, how can they ever dream of becoming it?

I know without a doubt I would not be the person or leader I am today were it not for the lessons I learned as an athlete.

The grit, the determination, the teamwork, the accountability, the resilience, all of it has had a significant impact on the rest of my life.

And this makes sense.

We know there's a direct correlation between girls who grow up playing sports becoming women who lead.

But while 94% of C-suite women grew up playing sports,

Only 6% of global CEOs are female, which means when girls drop out of sports, a significant pipeline for future female leadership suffers.

Now, there is good news.

Women's sports are growing, and it's thanks to the contributions of new media players that are reimagining the sports landscape for women's sports.

Brands who understand the value and are leaning in.

Athletes, fans who are working as content creators behind the scenes, and yes, even you and me.

Brands and media rights holders who understand the value of women's sports audiences, they're leaning in and they're reimagining traditional models around sports rights.

Take Visa.

They became the first ever standalone sponsor of UEFA women's football.

They worked with UEFA to basically unbundle the women's sponsorship rights from what was traditionally sold as a bundle with the men's.

Another interesting example this year came from streaming platform Netflix, who secured the exclusive rights in the US and Canada for the next two FIFA Women's World Cups.

I'm proud to say that at Google, we're tackling the bias challenge from both sides.

We're getting smarter at responding to your gender-ambiguous queries.

while at the same time working with content teams like Arsenal, Liverpool, women's clubs, making sure that across India women's cricket, the WNBA, the National Women's Soccer League, we're creating more stories for the algorithmic librarian to catalog and recommend.

Our search products are getting better at women's sports discoverability, and at the same time, we're working with media partners at ESPN, The Athletic, even British Vogue, increasing the coverage of women's sports.