On 14 September Women in Football (WiF) teamed up with a strong line up of UK sporting organisations to launch a new campaign called #GetOnside with the goal of not just promoting gender equality, but taking action across the industry.
The campaign is supported by WIF’s lead partner Barclays, the initiative sees each organisation involved sign up to a specific pledge of action to help to level the playing field for women and girls in football and thus make an immediate and genuine impact.
Spearheaded by a #GetOnside launch video, created by WiF’s official content partner Shoot the Company (which also produced the award-winning ‘Outraged’ film for UEFA in 2020) from an idea developed by creative agency Engine.
According to the charity itself, too many women in the football industry still report that their careers are held back due to their gender as men continue to dominate senior posts across the football landscape.
Indeed, according to WiF, 71% of its members want more support for the development of women in football leadership roles, while 78% want more gender diversity in boardrooms and 29% have experienced social media abuse based on their gender.
In order to tackle these headline issues (and others), #GetOnside sees both organisations and individuals pledge to provide women in the game with ‘greater support, mentoring, visibility, opportunities and networking’.
Timed to leverage the campaign launch, key pledges have already been made by a range of clubs, organisations and individuals: as well as Barclays, clubs like Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton, plus bodies such as FIFPRO, the FA, plus Football Manager, ITV Sport, League Managers Association, PFA, Portas, Scottish FA, Sian Massey-Ellis, Sky Sports, talkSPORT and TEAM Marketing have all pledged.
Amongst those pledges are a commitment from The FA to invest in 1,000 England Football-accredited clubs to give regular, structured, competitive playing opportunities to girls from under-10 to under-16 level, from ITV Sport to increase gender representation among its production teams and from Barclays to provide a career development day, offering insight, inspiration and development opportunities to support the progress of women in the football industry.
WiF will work with partners to promote more pledges as they are made.
“We know that this campaign has the power to change lives – and therefore to change the game,” said WiF Chair Ebru Köksal. “Football is an industry that’s changing, and our new #GetOnside initiative is a great opportunity for collaboration for the continued drive to equality for all.”
Barclays Head of Sponsorship and Media Tom Corbett added: “Over the past 20 years Barclays has supported the women’s and men’s games in many ways, on and off the pitch. So we’re thrilled to be backing the #GetOnside campaign as it launches today. Alongside our ongoing support for Women in Football, Barclays will be making a #GetOnside pledge of our own. Early next year we’ll launch a career development day for women working in football, providing insight, inspiration and development opportunities to help overcome the barriers they face in their professional lives. We look forward to seeing the pledges come in from other organisations as the campaign moves forward – and their tangible positive impact for women playing and working in football.”
WiF CEO Jane Purdon commented: “Football belongs to all of us, but sadly real barriers exist for women in the game. We know that football wants to change this, and I applaud the many organisations who have stepped up and committed to take action to help create a fairer, more inclusive game. The future is equality – and we’re bringing it home.”
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