World Para Powerlifting has started a She Can Lift campaign to persuade more women to try and emulate athletes such as Esther Oyema of Nigeria, seen celebrating winning the lightweight final at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games ©Getty Images

A new programme entitled "She Can Lift", centered on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, has been launched by World Para Powerlifting to attract more female athletes and improve gender equality in the sport.

The project also seeks to increase technical knowledge and the number of certified female coaches and officials, as well as boosting the image of female participation in Para-powerlifting.

World Para Powerlifting has ten bodyweight categories for men and women and will have an equal number of qualification slots for both genders at Tokyo 2020.

"It's fantastic to see a project like She Can Lift being launched," said Jenny Ortiz Cardenas, World Para Powerlifting's level two technical official and course educator.

World Para Powerlifting has launched the
World Para Powerlifting has launched the "She Can Lift" campaign to boost the numbers of female lifters heading towards the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics ©paralympic.org

"By providing these opportunities for women, they will feel empowered and inspired. 

"These coaches and technical officials will create a more open and comfortable environment and encourage more female athletes to competing in Para-powerlifting."

She Can Lift includes the development, creation and implementation of gender-specific content and resources for coaches, technical official courses and the delivery of this content in target regions.

It was one of the projects selected by the Agitos Foundation's 2018 Grant Support Programme, in which 63 applications from National Paralympic Committees and International Federations received funding for development and implementation.

"This project is central to increasing the number of women involved in the sport," said Dillon Richardson, coordinator of World Para Powerlifting.

"By targeting and training female coaches and technical officials in different regions, we hope to boost females' involvement and participation, and to inspire similar projects to take place at the national level."

In the coming months, World Para Powerlifting will be collaborating with key technical officials, coaches, athletes and gender equity experts to develop content and resources for the programme.

She Can Lift is expected to take place ahead of several competitions in 2019.