All 36 clubs in Ligue 1 and 2 will wear jerseys campaigning for better treatment of female fans
To mark International Women's Day on March 8, all their shirts worn in France's top two male divisions will have a phrase on their back: 'WO=MAN'
The phrase is designed to send a message of equality and inclusion for female supporters. It is part of a wider campaign being run by Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), which organises France's professional football leagues, and its partners to make stadiums 'safe and respectful' for everyone.
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One of LFP's three partner organisations for the campaign is Her Game Too France, whose president, Anoush Morel, told The Athletic: 'With creating a message of unity, we wanted it (the shirts) to be positive to remind people that women are in stadiums. They are watching football. The print on the shirt hopefully means that women and little girls feel included in the game.'
After the weekend the jerseys will be auctioned off on the MatchWornShirt platform, with all profits donated to the three partner associations — the other two are Foundation pour le Sport Inclusif and Colosse aux pieds d'Argile — to help fight sexism and sexual violence in football.
Her Game Too is a campaign run by fans to raise awareness of sexism in sport and was founded in 2021 in the United Kingdom. Her Game Too France followed in 2022. In partnership with LFP, they have delivered workshops to all 36 Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 teams.
The workshops can be for players, fans or club staff and comprise presentations and education about what sexism is, what it looks like, and how it is punishable. Morel said: 'We want to engage in conversation. At the end, sometimes we have players come up to us and thank us. They say, 'I want my daughter to be able to go into the stadium and be safe, so thank you for what you are doing'.'
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A method to report sexist incidents has been introduced across France with QR codes in women's toilets. A number of clubs have also assigned a staff member to address sexist incidents on matchdays.
As well as working with Ligue 1 clubs via its partnership with the LFP, Her Game too France is directly partnered with 15 clubs in Ligue 2 and one in the Championnat National (the French third tier). Each club has a player ambassador who works with the advocates from Her Game Too France to help improve the stadium environment for female fans.
This weekend is the first time all the players will wear the same message on the back of their shirts for International Women's Day, though in 2024 Saint-Etienne and AJ Auxerre wore shirts with the Her Game Too logo on them and #HerGameToo on them.
Morel says clubs in France are lagging behind the United Kingdom in terms of social self-regulation, though emphasised that there is still work to be done to address sexism in football in both countries.
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New research commissioned by Kick It Out and published earlier this month, showed that in the United Kingdom over half (52 per cent) of women have experienced or witnessed sexist behaviour or language on matchdays.
Furthermore, 85 per cent of those who had experienced or witnessed sexism or misogyny said they had never reported this abuse, with many saying it was because they didn't think it would be taken seriously or make a difference.
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