Are you watching this?

The ongoing FIFA Men’s World Cup has dominated recent media coverage. This football phenomenon is projected to reach six billion viewers across regions, languages and cultures. 

Beyond entertainment, this popular tournament is also a significant opportunity to increase visibility around gender issues in sports and spark important conversations in the community. We’ve seen some powerful examples of this, including raising awareness around the increase in domestic violence during football games through campaigns like ‘Stop it Coming Home’ and ‘The Other Kick Off’, and highlighting harmful online influences for boys through the UK’s ‘Yes Boys’ campaign, sharing resources for parents, coaches, and young people.  

On the pitch itself, whilst the Men’s World Cup has made progress in including women in the games—doubling the number of female referees since 2022— there is still a long way to go for women’s equality in football. 

Sports fields reflect many of the gender inequalities we see from the classroom to the boardroom, including unequal representation, pay and visibility. In the previous World Cup, male players were paid four times more than female players. Women’s football continues to receive less sponsorship, investment and media coverage than the men’s game. Yet the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup marked a watershed moment, attracting an estimated two billion viewers worldwide and demonstrating the sport’s growing global influence. The opportunity now is not simply to close gaps, but to build on this momentum. By investing in women’s sport, brands, organisations and communities can help accelerate one of the fastest-growing areas of global sport while advancing gender equality at the same time. 

Valuing and amplifying women and girls in the sports ecosystem is also critical to the wider development of female talent. On top of known physical and mental health benefits, early access and continued participation in sports reinforce confidence and leadership skills, with impacts lasting well beyond the playing field.  However, social and economic barriers in sports persist, with girls twice as likely as boys to drop out of sports by age 14.  By creating more opportunities for girls to participate and thrive, we are investing not only in athletes, but in future leaders, innovators and decision-makers. 

 This summer, we invite you to drive change through small actions as you enjoy the final matches: 

At your next watch party—or simply while watching with family—consider the game through a gender lens. What messages about masculinity are being celebrated? How are men’s and women’s sports valued differently? What inequalities in sports are we still overlooking? 

Support women and girls’ participation in sports and encourage parents and guardians to nurture a love of sports in their daughters. Invite a female friend or family member to join your next sports activity.  Focus on the joy and benefits of participation rather than performance and create space for conversations about any challenges they may have faced along the way, including gender stereotypes. 

Share news of women and girls in sports.  Share stories of women and girls in sport. Visible role models inspire future generations to participate and lead. Celebrate the achievements of female officials in this year’s tournaments and take time to learn about the players helping to shape the future of football ahead of next year’s Women’s World Cup. 

P.S. Connect is going on summer break! We will be back the week of August 17th.