"With men, with FIFA, you will find open doors. Just push the doors. They are open."
That was Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, in the run up to last Sunday's Women's World Cup final between England's Lionesses and La Roja, Spain's national team, the tournament winners.
But how open are those doors, really?
New research from Women in Football sheds light on the reality that lies below the rhetoric and PR spiel.
In many ways, far from welcoming women in to football, the professional game remains stubbornly hostile.
Richard is joined by Yvonne Harrison, chief executive of Women In Football, and Monique Chaudhuri, board member of WiF who has just stepped down after five years as non executive director of Brentford FC.
We discuss the burden being carried by today's generation of young professional players; why we don't know how many women work in football and the hard work that lies ahead to capitalise on this summer's World Cup.
Read the Women In Football 2023 survey results here.
Some highlights:
- 82% of women working in football having experienced discrimination at work – up from 66% in 2020
- 23% of those who experienced gender-based discrimination at work felt able to report it – a significant improvement on the 2020 survey, when the figure was just 12% but still a way to go
- 47% of women working in football have experienced sexism in the workplace – while this figure is still high at almost half, it is also an improvement on the 2020 figure of 65%
- 89% said they were optimistic about the prospects of women in the football industry – up 27 percentage points from only 62% in 2016 but only 27% of women say they are encouraged to forge pathways to the highest positions in the game
- In 2020 only 45% agreed that football was an environment where women can excel – but this was up to 67% in 2023.
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