Sports Direct launches "Equal Play" to drive equality for women in sport
Sports Direct has today launched "Equal Play", a new long-term initiative to drive equality for women in sport.
Along with the charity Women in Sport, Sports Direct has produced a new report identifying what needs to change to close the gender gap, which they are now acting on.
Action plans include creating safe spaces to train, funding athlete sponsorship, increasing representation in campaigns, and supporting grassroots organisations nationwide. Equal Play aims to inspire more women and girls to take up sport.
Key findings in the report have revealed almost three quarters of girls (73%) and 67% of boys agree there’s less funding or sponsorship available to support women’s teams compared to men’s teams.
Almost half of girls (46%) say that if they saw more high-profile women’s sports, it would encourage them to do more sport, and 47% of girls said that seeing a wider diversity of female athletes as role models would encourage them to do more sport. Only 19% of boys agreed that more diverse male role models were needed.
The majority (62%) of girls felt a strong sense of pride in seeing female athletes celebrated and nearly half (46%) were inspired by them. However, less than a third of young men (31%) wanted to see a greater celebration of women’s achievements in sport.
Zoe Smith
As part of its initiative, Sports Direct has partnered with a line-up of inspirational sports women from a spectrum of sports, including boxer Ramla Ali, the first-ever professional Somali boxer who originally set up Sisters Club to allow Muslim women to train for free, and world-class Team GB weightlifter, Zoe Smith, who had to self-fund her Olympic journey due to government funding being cut.
The new initiative is providing Smith with sponsorship, enabling her to turn her home garage into a fully functioning gym making it easier for her to train while studying.
Also signed up is DJ footballer Lucy Monkman, aka DJ Monki, who previously played at academy level for Chelsea FC but then decided to pursue her other love - music. She will be the face of all football content on Sports Direct’s channels, to encourage female voices as the experts in the industry, not just players.
Lucy Monkman AKA DJ Monki
Beckie Stanion, Chief Marketing Officer at Sports Direct, said: “In 2021, it’s shocking to see the huge disparities between the sexes in sport, at all levels. During the pandemic, these issues have been growing, which is why our ‘Equal Play’ initiative is now more important than ever. We see sport as the great equaliser, but sadly when it comes to gender, so much more needs to be done. We’re excited to be working alongside inspirational women across all sports, to help bring these inequalities to light and start to close the gap. We know it’ll be a journey, but we look forward to creating inspiring, real and tangible change in the world of female sport.”
Stephanie Hilborne, CEO of Women in Sport, added: “It’s great to see a sports brand that reaches so many people every day standing up for the rights of women and girls to play sport. This is not just about sport but about life chances, fairness and personal resilience. Given this, and the joy and freedom sport can give, it’s plain wrong if girls and women miss out. Any change starts with understanding what needs to change and we’re proud to have helped Sports Direct with this initiative.”
