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THE STORY OF WIF: SPEAKING OUT
21 August 2024
For the third day in our Story of WIF series, we’re taking a look back at some of the ways in which Women in Football has spoken up to support gender equality in the game – campaigning against misogyny and discrimination but also celebrating the indispensable contributions to the game made by our members and women everywhere.
#WhatIf
Women in Football’s first large-scale campaign was #WhatIf – launched in 2018 at the London HQ of the organisation then known as Twitter. Sponsored by Synergy and Betfair, the event announced a project that would invite organisations to pledge actions that would make football fairer for women and girls.
It was through a #WhatIf pledge that Sky Sports – later to become a Women in Football corporate member – first committed to featuring female talent as studio pundits on Soccer Saturday. WIF founder member and ambassador Jacqui Oatley MBE said: “For women to realise their potential in football, they need a combination of self-belief and opportunity –#WhatIf will make a difference on both fronts.”
In 2020 the campaign went international, with an event hosted by FIFPRO in the Netherlands extending the reach of #WhatIf and the influence of WIF more widely.
#GetOnside
The following year a similar but even bigger campaign was launched into a changed and more optimistic landscape. If #WhatIf was about realising dreams of a gender-equal landscape, #GetOnside took a step forward, repositioning women in football as the new normal and calling on organisations to be part of the fairer future that was already coming to pass.
The campaign launched in September 2021 with a spectacular array of pledges from names both big and small. WIF’s lead partner Barclays stepped up as the campaign’s key supporter, leading by example with a pledge to provide a “career development day” which turned into the incredible Women in Football Be Inspired Conference. ITV Sport, the FA, Aston Villa FC and talkSPORT were among the other big names to join the #GetOnside family on day one.
New pledges are still being made and existing ones renewed, with the total now standing at around 250. Three years down the line, our flagship campaign continues to bring about multiple practical changes to support women and girls in football.
Open Doors Agenda
In the run-up to the final of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested that achieving gender equality in the game was a straightforward process. "With men, with FIFA, you will find open doors,” he said. “Just push the doors.” A few days later a fantastic tournament was overshadowed by an international outcry in response to the Luis Rubiales incident.
The incident was just the latest in an ongoing pattern of abusive behaviour towards women in all areas of the game. In response, WIF launched the Open Doors Agenda – a charter for governance reform and protection from abuse, ensuring female representation at the highest levels of the game and changing the culture of the game from the top down. Hundreds of WIF members signed up to support the six principles of the Open Doors Agenda, and Women in Football continues to campaign for their adoption by governing bodies and leagues across the industry.
More about the Open Doors Agenda
#TodayAndEveryDay
“Showing support for gender equality on International Women’s Day is great, but one day is not enough. It’s time for football to acknowledge that it depends on the work done by thousands of women all the time, to recognise their contribution, and to push harder for gender equality – today and every day.”
That’s how WIF CEO Yvonne Harrison introduced #TodayAndEveryDay, the campaign we launched on International Women’s Day 2024. Building on the Celebrating Women Every Day initiative we launched a year previously, #TodayAndEveryDay is an ongoing project highlighting the indispensable contributions to the football industry already being made by women, 365 days a year.
The project launched with a video created in partnership with Beat Media Group, featuring contributions from Lionesses legend Jill Scott MBE, Chelsea’s record-breaking manager Emma Hayes OBE, trailblazing football commentator Jacqui Oatley MBE, and ex-professional footballers and hosts of the Barclays Women’s Championship Show on Sky Sports, Mollie and Rosie Kmita. It resumes later in 2024 with a brilliant photography series spotlighting other leading women in the industry – so be sure to keep your eyes open for that!
Watch the #TodayAndEveryDay video on YouTube or Instagram
- Next in the Story of WIF: Making things happen
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