March 6th is International Women’s Day, which provides an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come with tackling gender inequality globally and look forth to what more needs to be done to achieve greater systemic and cultural change. Within the historically male-dominated field of football, women are increasingly knocking down barriers and seeing exponential growth year on year, displaying just how widespread female visibility across this industry has become. Whilst it is undeniably an exciting time to be involved in the game and celebrate women’s accomplishments, a collective push for more accountability and action to champion further growth and success is needed this International Women’s Day.
This year’s theme is ‘Accelerate Action’, which is particularly fitting when analysing the space that women’s football holds in the world of sport & media representation. This theme urges for more effective steps to be taken to dismantle gender inequality at a faster rate, emphasising the necessity for an increase in impactful initiatives over lip service.
Currently, women are disproportionately represented across all areas of football, from coaching and development roles to broadcasting and board positions. The gendered financial disparity at the most elite level of the professional game is perhaps one of them more glaringly obvious inequalities, with Women’s Super League players earning an average of £47,000 per year compared to the £3 million average for their male counterparts in the Premier League (Evoluted, 2023).
Pay is an obvious issue, but gendered discrimination is evident in a number of ways, particularly when dissecting racial bias and lack of intersectionality. Misogynoir is a growing problem in sport and the intersection of race and gender within discrimination needs accelerated action to adequately address the spiral of online abuse targeting players, particularly those of ethnic minorities.
Former Chelsea and England striker Eni Aluko who now works as a football pundit has spoken up about the ‘systemic targeting of black women’ in online abuse (BBC, 2024), with just last month Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw withdrawing from a cup game to protect her mental wellbeing after receiving racist and misogynistic abuse. Furthermore, less than 10% of Premier League board members are women, with this statistic dropping to just 2% for CEOs and presidents in national federations, with these numbers dropping even lower when considering racial diversity amongst women that are employed at elite level in backroom positions. (MBS, 2023)
Accelerating action for women in football means more women of varying ages, ethnicities, religions and backgrounds being able to see themselves represented across all areas of football, to know they too can and deserve to have a place at the proverbial table. More women need to be involved in decision making, and men in positions of power need to use their privilege – whether recognised or not- to influence a greater balance of gendered equality in order to level the playing field.
This year’s theme also means clubs and federations should shift further away from simply having an awareness of gender inequality and moving more to accountable action, through implementing inclusive programmes and strategies to dismantle structural barriers for women and girls in football. Ahead of this International Women’s Day Newcastle United have created a mentorship programme to support career pathways for women and young girls aspiring to work in football, highlighting a great example of commitment to accelerating action by creating environments for women to be better represented within this industry.
Furthermore, continuing to increase commercialisation and investment in the women’s game will provide greater opportunities to sustain expansion and economic development. Sky Sports announced a landmark five year deal with the WSL to show 90% of all matches starting from 2025/26 season (Sky Sports, 2024) and since this season’s introduction of WSL and Championship games being streamed online on free platforms like YouTube, viewership of women’s football in England has more than trebled (The Guardian, 2024). Accelerated action like this within major investment and broadcasting partnerships will further grow the everyday visibility of the women’s game on television, allowing it to begin catching up with the men’s game and providing options for people to watch the sport they enjoy.
As quoted by Marian Wright Edleman, “you can’t be what you can’t see”, and this could not be more fitting a reminder for the importance of widening access and inclusion for women within football. Let this International Women’s Day be an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women within this sport, and a timely reminder of what more needs to be done so that barriers can be dismantled across the globe to continue advancing gender equality, regardless of socio-economic background.
Comments