Why We Need More Women in the Room Where it Happens

In 2017 only 35 out of 523 directors in the English Football League were women. That is less than 7 percent.

By the 2018/2019 season, only 11 women sat on the boards of the 20 Premier League Clubs.

The data from organisation ‘Women in Football’ shows the under-representation of women in both football and boardrooms up and down the country, but it doesn’t mean it has to stay this way.

Women like Baroness Karen Brady, Dr Denise Barrett-Baxendale, CEO of Everton FC, Karen Dorbes and Maggie Murphy are a small selection of professional and top-flight clubs being led and represented by women, but also incredible female role models who have faced gender inequity and adversity head-on and continue to pave the way for females.

Baroness Karren Brady is Vice-Chairman of West Ham and has been battling against sexism and misogynist barriers since she started out in the football industry at 23 years old. She has been on a mission to champion other women since, with her reliance bagging herself titles such as ‘Businesswomen of the year’ and ‘Ultimate Entrepreneur’.

When speaking to The Times Brady shared: “The most valuable gift you can give someone is your time and your ear and your experience and your advice.”

Lewes FC is the first (and currently only) semi-professional and professional football club in the world to pay and dedicate equal resources to its men’s and women’s team, coining the term ‘Equality FC’.

The brains behind the phenomenal campaign is Karen Dorbes, one of the many women Directors at Lewes FC and Maggie Murphy CEO who both set out to challenge gender inequality and the stigmas and criticism which come along with it. Dorbes and Murphy’s hard graft and determination saw the club win an award from UN Women UK for being an inspiration in the field of gender inequality.

Without women in football, decisions that impact and concern women are not addressed. For example, take the issue of women football players wearing white shorts whilst being on their period. On paper looks lovely, but in reality, it is highly unpractical.

Manchester City, Lewes FC and West Bromwich Albion Women all announced their women’s team would stop wearing white shorts after their women directors and first team players voiced concerns.

In a statement Manchester City said: “As a result of player feedback and the underlying topic of women wanting to move away from wearing white shorts while on their periods, we have decided to implement changes.”

Yet without women in these boardrooms or even women playing football these decisions and conversations would have never happened. Therefore, as the visibility of women’s football and women working within football is becoming more normalised, women require a bigger say over the decisions being made about women in the boardrooms.

Creating a balanced modern boardroom is pivotal to developing successful leadership which is representative of its fans and society. A board should be made up of people belonging to different genders, and diverse into terms of ethnicity and geographical socio-economic background, disability, and sexuality in order to reflect the real world and real life.