Football urged to ‘step up to ensure sexism taken seriously and women feel safe’

Football clubs and governing bodies are not doing enough to build trust with female supporters, according to Kick It Out, with more than half of women fans saying they have experienced sexist behaviour at matches.

A survey conducted by the anti-discrimination group showed 52 per cent of 1,502 respondents had either witnessed or been victims of misogynistic words or behaviour from fellow match-goers, with the vast majority – 85 per cent – saying they had not reported it, largely due to a belief their complaints would not be taken seriously.

In response to the findings, the organisation has launched a campaign to combat sexism in the game, focusing on challenging and reporting misogyny, having seen a marked increase in reports received over the last two seasons.

Almost one in four women surveyed by Kick It Out said they felt unsafe when attending matches, with LGBTQ+, disabled and ethnic minority supporters more likely to report feeling unsafe in stadiums, while six in 10 respondents reported they had heard sexist language at football dismissed as “banter”.

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The most common complaints included women being told they should be elsewhere (for example “get back in the kitchen”), receiving lewd or sexually suggestive remarks, and being accused of attending games for non-football reasons such as getting male attention.

Hollie Varney, Kick It Out’s chief operating officer, said: “Football needs to step up to ensure sexism is taken seriously and that women feel safe and confident to report discrimination.

“We’ve seen reports of sexism to Kick It Out increase significantly in recent seasons. Reports include women telling us about hearing sexist and lewd chants at matches, having their opinions dismissed or questioned simply because of their gender, and seeing officials and physios targeted with misogynistic abuse.”

The campaign aims to raise awareness of sexism and misogyny, challenge sexist behaviour and encourage women to report sexism, while calling on football to take reports more seriously.

The findings also shed light on less explicit forms of discrimination inside stadiums.

At present, four in 10 women attending football believe that stadiums are not providing facilities that would enable an inclusive experience for fans, such as access to sanitary facilities and the presence of female staff in stadiums.

“As part of this campaign, we want to show male fans how they can challenge sexist behaviour when they see it and ensure women fans know that sexist and misogynistic behaviour is discrimination and can be reported,” Varney said.

“There have been encouraging examples over the past couple of seasons where clubs have taken positive and decisive action to deal with sexist behaviour, such as bans, arrests, and referrals to Kick It Out’s Fan Education team.

“But it’s clear from the research that clubs and governing bodies need to do more to build trust with women supporters.”

As part of the campaign, a new video has been unveiled that aims to illustrate some of the behaviours identified in the research and showing how absurd they would seem if a male fan experienced them.

Varney said: “We have a plan to engage clubs, to hopefully get this (video) in front of more football fans. I think the online space is really key as a place where abuse happens.

“We’re going to try to get this in front of as many people as possible. You can’t guarantee that absolutely everyone will support it. But we firmly believe that the message is right and the message is clear. We will do our part in trying to reach as many people as possible.”