Women football players in Victoria are planning to wear multiple red armbands as they take to the field this weekend to protest the state’s recent budget cuts to gender equity and inclusion sports programs.
First reported by the ABC, podcasting platform Not All Clubs Media have published a series of posts criticising the decision made last week by Victorian Treasurer Jaclyn Symes to axe the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation (OWSR) and the Preventing Violence Through Sport Grants Program.
The Office for Women in Sport are responsible for delivering the Change Our Game Program, an initiative which works to boost the participation, leadership and visibility of women and girls in sport and active recreation.
The Preventing Violence Through Sport Grants Program funded Victorian community sport and recreation by addressing gender-based violence, including family violence and other forms of gendered violence.
This week, Not All Clubs Media has demanded the state government reinstate the programs and “commit to a long-term strategy to make sport safe, equal, and accessible for women and gender diverse people”.
On their socials, the media platform praised the initiatives and programs for being “…the first of their kind — designed to make sport safe, more inclusive, and more equal for women and gender diverse people.”
“Without them, we risk going backwards — towards more harm, more silence, and fewer women and gender diverse people in the game,” the organisation, which seeks to call out inequality in sport, said.
Players are expected to wear two red armbands — one to symbolise their protest against the cuts and defunding, and another to honour the women who have been killed due to gender-based violence this year.
“Already this year, 29 women have been killed by violence,” a statement read. “Last year, it was 103. We refuse to go backwards. We refuse to be silenced. We refuse to stay quiet while safety is defunded.”
The cuts to the two programs were announced at a Sport and Experience Economy meeting last week after the release of Victoria’s State Budget.
Image credit: Not All Clubs Media
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