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Statement from Women in Football ahead of FIFA Reform Committee Meeting
18 November 2015
Statement from Women in Football ahead of FIFA Reform Committee Meeting 18th November 2015
Women in Football (WiF) has written to Francois Carrard, Head of FIFA’s Reform Committee, urging his taskforce to support Executive Committee member Moya Dodd’s proposals, “Why reform must specify inclusion and investment” requiring gender balance in the governance of FIFA and calling for 30% of leadership positions to be held by women.
WiF are concerned that, 111 years since FIFA’s inception, women still account for a only a minute fraction of the global governing body’s decision making boards:
- Less than 1% of FIFA’s voting congress are female
- 8% of ExCo members globally are female
- At Confederation level only 8 women hold ExCo positions, while some Confederations have no female representation at all.
- Within FIFA itself, there are just 3 women out of 26 ExCo members.
- The Member Associations for the most established Confederations – UEFA and CONMEBOL - have the least number of women on their boards.
The numbers are appalling for a governing body that claims to have outlawed discrimination.
Alongside supporting Moya Dodd’s proposal, WiF has added three further requests in order for FIFA to truly modernise:
1. WiF has asked Mr Carrard to revise FIFA’s existing anti-discrimination policy to ensure that gender equality, indeed intersectionality in all its forms, sits at the heart of this pledge.
2. WiF calls for the appointment of independent members to the FIFA ExCo. And we urge FIFA to ensure that these new additions are diverse in gender, ethnicity, age and disability so that the top table finally represents the constituents of the modern game.
3. Finally we ask FIFA to ensure that these governance reforms are similarly reflected within its Confederations, Member Associations and Clubs.
WiF believes that FIFA is at a monumental crossroads, it has failed women and minorities at every level of the game for too long. A groundbreaking WiF survey in 2014 revealed that 66% of women working in football had witnessed sexism in the workplace, while 89% of those did not report it. If FIFA genuinely wants to move forward, now is the time for change.
About Women in Football
WiF is a network of over 1,300 professional women working in and around the football industry. We aim to improve women's representation at all levels of the game by:
– Celebrating women's achievement
– Challenging discrimination and lobbying for change ?
– Sharing professional contacts, advice and expertise ?
-Ends-
FULL LETTER BELOW:
Dear Mr Francois Carrard
Women in Football supports the submission:
“Why reform must specify inclusion and investment”
It has been well documented that diverse and gender inclusive boards are smarter with their organisations more successful, efficient and inclusive as a direct result. As such, women clearly have a critical role to play across the breadth of our beautiful game and at all levels but they must also now take their rightful places as decision makers at the FIFA EXCO and its Committees.
There has been some limited progress in this regard but nowhere near enough and we can no longer wait for organic reform from within. This is a unique moment for football and its stakeholders and we call on FIFA, as the game’s governing body, to grasp these opportunities and to ensure meaningful and lasting change.
With this in mind, Women in Football supports the submission: “Why reform must specify inclusion and investment” and its recommendations. Please see Appendix.
However, Women in Football calls for still further and more searching reforms as follows.
Firstly, FIFA’s existing anti-discrimination policy should be revised to ensure that gender equality is placed at the forefront of progress but this pledge must go still further, to ensure the end to all forms of discrimination that still exist across football. Please see appendix.
Secondly, we call for the appointment of truly independent members (at least 30%) to the FIFA EXCO and with representation from all the key stakeholders. Women in Football considers this aspect to be critical if we are to remove any risk of compromised decisions in the future, with independent EXCO members more freely able to challenge the status quo when needed. Independent members will also bring additional expertise, ideas and knowledge from other sectors to the table.
In making these changes, we must ensure a more diverse range of decision makers. FIFA cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of its forefathers with largely old white men or for that matter in the new order, old white women and men appointed to the top table. The women and men appointed to EXCO, must come from more diverse backgrounds based on gender, ethnicity, disability and so on. Together, they must truly represent the whole of the modern game and its many constituents.
Thirdly, FIFA must ensure that these governance reforms are similarly reflected within its Confederations, Member Associations and Clubs.
Football is at a cross roads, it has failed women and minorities at every level of the game and for too long. At the 2015 FIFA Symposium a spot survey was conducted among the female delegates of 171 countries. 63% said they had observed gender discrimination in football. Women in Football’s own survey in 2014 revealed that of the 66% of women working in football who had witnessed sexism in the workplace, 89% of those did not report it. The evidence is clear that football has a problem.
In closing, the Women in Football Board would be pleased to meet to discuss how the gender issue can be best tackled, based on our work within the game over the past eight years.
We look forward to your reply and seek your reassurance that the FIFA Reform Committee will support all the aforementioned reforms. They are long overdue.
Yours sincerely
Anna Kessel
Chair, on behalf of Women in Football
Cc Women in Football Board of Directors; Moya Dodd, FIFA EXCO, Sarai Bareman, FIFA Reform Committe
Appendix A
1 Women in Football calls for an amendment to FIFA Statutes Article 3 as follows:
“Ensure diversity and inclusion across the game and stand against all forms of discrimination (including race, gender, age, disability, religion and sexual orientation).”
Women in Football calls for gender equality and much wider diversity and inclusion within FIFA EXCO and its decision-making bodies and committees.
2 Women in Football supports the submission by Moya Dodd and Sarai Bareman: “Why reform must specify inclusion and investment” and its recommendations:
- Inclusion in decision-making - An immediate 20% presence of women on the FIFA Executive Committee to be mirrored within a reasonable time at all levels with a longer-term target of 30% gender balance.
- Investment in the women’s game - An immediate requirement for all football stakeholders to actively resource participation opportunities for women and girls at all levels, without gender discrimination in fair financial proportion to its female participation and potential.
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