Women in Football has launched Phase 2 of its #WhatIf campaign, featuring a series of pledges from sports media.
At an event at Twitter HQ in London this week, The Telegraph, Sky Sports, talkSPORT and Give Me Sport were among those from the industry to make commitments which will help to boost the women’s game.
The campaign was initially launched in May 2018, asking both individuals and businesses to take firm action and bring about real change.
Reflecting on the progress made, Ebru Köksal, the chair of Women in Football (pictured above), told attendees: “It’s been an amazing year for Women in Football and women’s football. There have been record attendances all over the world, amazing viewership, impressive media coverage as well as more and more sponsors coming on board with big commitments like Barclays, Visa, Nike, and Boots.”
The 2019 sports media pledges included…
#WhatIf… the Telegraph ringfenced two paid work experience roles for women this summer as part of its commitment to championing new voices, and hosted two events to diversify the sports media?
#WhatIf… Sky Sports create a Women In Football season-long development programme for external candidates to work in various roles with the Sky Sports football team?
#WhatIf… talkSPORT covered the Women’s World Cup in depth over the summer and supported the Women’s Super League with multiple programming strands across the 2019/20 season?
#WhatIf… the BBC’s Match of the Day magazine launched a new weekly women’s football column starting next season, featuring different players each week to give young readers entertaining, informative and exclusive content?
VIDEO| Women In Football in partnership with GiveMeSportW 2019 for the #WhatIF Campaign. This is what happened. We are all inspired to do more. @BarclaysFooty @talkSPORT @WomeninFootball @UWCL @FIFAWWC @FA @tonguetweets @JanePurdon @TwitterUK @MsBennyBonsu #WomenInFootball pic.twitter.com/V0yDwxNQx1
— GiveMeSportW (@GiveMeSportW) May 22, 2019
Meanwhile, Twitter pledged to continue to use the #WomeninFootball emoji which has helped bring increased visibility to the campaign on social media.
See the full list of pledges at https://www.womeninfootball.co.uk/news/2019/05/22/aaa/
Tuesday’s event was co-hosted by Benny Bonsu, the head of women’s sport at Give Me Sport and a Sports Journalists’ Association committee member. Going forwards, Give Me Sport has pledged to give full parity of sports coverage for women.
Köksal added: “We need to continue pushing for diversity and inclusion to be embedded in football organisations’ strategy and sincerely owned by the men at the decision-making levels. We at Women in Football believe that everyone can continue to play a role in the transformative change that has started.”
To make a pledge or to learn more about #WhatIf, email info@womeninfootball.co.uk or visit the website at https://www.womeninfootball.co.uk/