100 donne contro gli stereotipi (“100 women against stereotypes”) is a project for giving voice and visibility to women experts in their field. In partnership with Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, the project has expanded its scope into the world of women in sport and, on 5 May last at the Allianz auditorium, organizers presented “#100esperte per lo sport,” a list of 100 women experts in sports and related fields.
The 100donne (‘100 women’) idea dates back to 2016, and is the brainchild of Gi.U.Li.A. (an association of independent women journalists) and Osservatorio di Pavia (a media analysis and research body attached to the University of Pavia). The idea was developed by the Bracco Foundation, which, with the support of the European Commission Representation in Italy, has built it up into a network that now boasts more than 400 pre-eminent women professionals working in the worlds of STEM, economics and finance, international politics, history and philosophy.
The idea of branching out to include a section dedicated to women in sport comes at particularly auspicious moment for Italian sportswomen who have been winning many medals in international competitions, and it looks forward to the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, which offer an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of female competitors.
According to the sixth edition of the Global Media Monitoring Project Report (GMMP), the largest research project in the world dedicated to monitoring women in the news, just 4% of sports news coverage refers to female athletes. In the world of professional sports, women have a visibility of just 14% compared to 86% for men, and women are almost never consulted as experts. Finally, the GMMP report, which in 2020 collected data on five types of media in 116 countries by analysing 30,172 news items, pointed out that the issues of gender equality and related matters amounted to just 1% of the topics covered in sports news, even though sport is the fifth most talked-about topic in the world.
The database of the 100 women sports experts includes the names of more than 50 academics, representatives of sports clubs and federations, and former athletes.
The meeting, moderated by the Corriere della Sera journalist, Alessandro Cannavò, was attended by: Diana Bracco, Chair of the Bracco Foundation; Andrea Varnier, CEO of the Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation; Monia Azzalini, a researcher at Osservatorio di Pavia (media analysis and research); Claudia Giordani, Vice President of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and member of the scientific committee of the 100esperte sport project; Senator Giusy Versace, Vice Chair of the Culture Committee; Diana Bianchedi, Chief Strategy Planning and Legacy Officer of Milano Cortina 2026; Paola Abbiezzi, Teaching Director at the Department of Communication and Performing Arts of Università Cattolica; Martina Caironi, the prize-winning Paralympic athlete; Marta Dassù, Senior Director Europe of the Aspen Institute, expert in international politics, and former competition-level tennis player; and Danielle Madam, multiple championship-wining weightlifter.
