The number of women experiencing discrimination in the football industry is continuing to rise, according to new data.
The latest survey from the group Women in Football shows 89 per cent of women working in football have experienced discrimination in the workplace. This number is up from 82 per cent in 2023 and 66 per cent four years ago.
Conducted in May 2024, the survey also shows that gender-based discrimination is seldom reported. And when it is reported, no action is taken in a majority of cases.
More than 60 per cent of those who reported an incident said no action was taken as result, and among those who reported, 16 per cent said they weren’t listened to.
Nevertheless, a vast majority of survey respondents remain optimistic about gender equality in the football industry, with 85 per cent of female respondents and 91 per cent of male respondents reporting they believed opportunities in the football industry will get better.
“Everyone knows that gender discrimination happens in football, but the problem isn’t just that it happens – there’s an even bigger problem around how football deals with it,” said Women in Football CEO Yvonne Harrison, in response to the findings.
“When gender discrimination happens, many women don’t feel they can report it, and when they do report it, too often no action is taken. Women deserve better.”
“We know there is willingness in the football industry to work for gender equality and we appreciate the contribution of our male allies in achieving it. For real progress to be achieved at this point, the message of our survey is clear: listen to women, and act on what they tell you.”
The survey received responses from 1,118 people in total, with 89 per cent identifying as women, 10 per cent as men and 1 per cent non-binary. The data was analysed by IRIS Sport, the international sports research agency based in Germany. The analysis is also ongoing and more findings may be announced.
The survey asked respondents to identify the biggest challenges for women in football, with results showing the largest hurdle in 2024 to be male dominance of the industry (71 per cent said this), followed by unconscious bias (66 per cent).
The results were different than last year, when conscious and unconscious bias were reported as the biggest hurdle by more than 75 per cent of respondents. This year, conscious bias dropped to 37 per cent.
Online hate is perceived to be on the rise by survey participants, with 44 per cent saying they’ve witnessed an increase in discriminatory social media posts. And 18 per cent said they’d been directly subjected to such abuse.
When it comes to how hard women have to work in the football industry compared to men, 88 per cent of women believe women have to work harder to achieve the same recognition and benefits as men. Meanwhile, 74 per cent of men agree with this.
The figure of 88 per cent is the same as last year’s findings, however, only 65 per cent of men agreed in 2023. This suggests that the industry’s male workforce might be becoming more aware of the barriers faced by their female colleagues.
“Racism, sexism and all forms of discrimination usually do not exist in isolation,” said Women in Football director Lungi Macebo.
The ongoing fight for gender equality in football is inseparable from the wider battle for a fairer society, and the results of the Women in Football survey show that organisations need to approach equality, diversity and inclusion in an intersectional way. There needs to be an international effort to ensure equity in all aspects of our game.”