(Reuters) – Welsh rugby clubs voted overwhelmingly in favour of including more women on the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) board during an extraordinary general meeting on Sunday, which was held after the body faced allegations of sexism and misogyny.
Members voted 97.2% in favour of major governance reforms to the WRU board.
WRU will now double the total number of independent representatives to six on its board and have a composition that should include at least five women out of 12 members in total.
In a BBC Wales documentary aired in January, several former female WRU employees made allegations about comments and behaviour that they said were sexist and discriminatory.
“We hope to complete the process for change by December this year, but the first steps will be taken immediately,” interim CEO Nigel Walker said.
“This is just the beginning of a journey which will see the trust and faith of a nation in Welsh rugby restored and revitalised. There is a lot of hard work ahead of us but this is a genuinely uplifting moment in the history of our game.”
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
