The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has taken what it calls "concrete steps" to tackle gender inequality at all levels of sport.

The organisation said it will begin implementing 25 recommendations from its recent Gender Equality Review Project, which looked to identify ways to advance women's participation in sport.

Describing the recommendations as “bold and challenging”, the IOC said the actions will be implemented across five areas – governance, human resources, funding, sport and the portrayal of women.

According to Marisol Casado, chair of the gender equality review project, the 25 actions will assist in removing barriers preventing women and girls from participating in sport at all levels.

“While recent years have seen improvements in gender equality in sport, we need more, and we need to do it quickly,” Casado said.

“These 25 recommendations aim to make substantial change and swiftly. The IOC is in a prime position to lead the way in bringing parity in gender equality, and today’s decision is a giant step forward toward achieving our objective.”

One of the key actions the IOC said it will commit to is avoiding portraying gender bias and stereotypes.

A pilot programme was undertaken at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang last month, where a set of principles and guidelines for a "balanced portrayal" of both genders was shared with IOC stakeholders.

The guidelines were road tested in activities during the Games, and feedback and comments on the experiences are currently being analysed.

Using the stakeholder feedback, the IOC will build a “robust set of gender portrayal guidelines” that it will look to implement across the Olympic movement.

One of IOC’s strategic objectives around gender equality is to increase female participation at the Olympic Games to 50 per cent.

The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro boasted the highest-ever number of women competitors in history, with female athletes comprising 45 per cent of total participants.