September 27 – Despite a surge in women’s football participation with 4.4 million playing regularly across the UK, and 41% of women’s football clubs in the UK only being created in the last four years, research by Unilever’s antiperspirant brand Sure UK has found women’s football at a non-professional level still faces on-going equality challenges both on and off the pitch.
Amongst the findings, Sure’s study revealed that 40% of women footballers surveyed do not have access to their own pitch, one in four (25%) do not have changing room access and one in five (21%) do not have appropriate facilities for when they are on their period.
Alice Duffill, senior brand manager at Sure UK said: “At Sure we aim to facilitate everyone’s ability to reap the rewards of movement – especially in women’s football. However, it’s clear that numerous barriers remain in this country which need to be tackled. That’s why we’re committed to investing in women’s football at a grassroots level, increasing the avenues available for people to train and get involved.”
Duffill continued: “In the dynamic world of sports, brands that are allocating resources to elite sports events and sponsoring world-famous athletes hold considerable influence. It’s vital that these brands recognise their responsibility to invest into grassroots opportunities in order to level the playing field and give opportunities to women, girls, and those from marginalised communities to help foster community development, physical health, and well-being.”
The English Football Association is projecting that one in five football teams in the UK will be female by 2030. The research found that 78% of female footballers agree that opportunities for women in their local football league are still far behind those available for men.
Key barriers were identified as a lack of funding (41%), a lack of sponsors (37%) and a lack of equipment (35%).
Sure’s Breaking Limits…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/09/27/study-finds-huge-gap-mens-womens-game-uk-grassroots/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-09-27 01:35:03
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