A Japanese women's baseball team from the 1960s ©Getty Images

The World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Integrity Unit is set to conduct two courses dedicated to women’s baseball and gender equality.

The announcement was made by the WBSC to mark International Women’s Day yesterday.

Scheduled to start on April 26, the courses which will be available in English and Spanish have been split into 10 lessons.

Those attending will be able to participate in live sessions with experts on each topic and ask questions.

Entitled "Women’s Baseball", the first course comprises of six sessions including coaching female athletes, creating a women’s baseball programme and career development in women’s baseball.

Participants will also hear stories from players, learn about training and find out about professional women’s baseball programmes.

"Policies and strategies for gender equality in sport", "sport as a tool for gender equality", "women, sport and media" and "gender equality in sports leadership" will be among the four topics covered in the second course, tiled "Diversity and Inclusivity".

The content of the courses is being developed by the WBSC Diversity and Inclusivity Commission and the Women’s Baseball Commission.

"For more than a century, baseball and softball have provided young girls around the world with safe and accessible opportunities to play and stay in sport," Beatrice Allen, WBSC vice-president and chair of the WBSC Diversity and Inclusivity Commission, said.

"At the WBSC we are proud to govern a sport that has played such an important role in challenging social norms and gender stereotypes around women’s participation in sport.

"These courses will only serve to reinforce our efforts to close the gender divide in global sport and I am delighted that they will be made available to the entire baseball-softball community via the WBSC Academy.

"We therefore encourage all of our Member Federations, athletes, coaches, Executive Board and Commission Members to make use of this highly valuable resource."

Further details of each lesson is expected to be announced closer to the time of the courses.

The lessons are set to be streamed via the WBSC Academy, with a selection of them made available on the organisation's YouTube channel.