FA and Team GB back Equal Sport Project to tackle gender inequality

The Football Association, Team GB and England Netball have backed the new Equal Sport Project, an initiative seeking to improve equality for women and girls across UK sport. BBC Sport reported that the project brings together major sporting organisations around commitments covering participation, employment, leadership and access to facilities, with government support also confirmed.

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The launch follows research by Sporting Insights highlighting concerns among women employed in the industry. According to the BBC's account of that research, fewer than 1% of women working in sport believe the sector has achieved gender equality. More than half believe they receive less pay than men doing the same job. Those findings describe respondents' views, rather than an independently established measure of the pay gap.

The project has set out five priorities for action. These cover girls' access to school sport; the relevance, audience reach and revenue of women's sport; equality within the sports workforce; governance designed to support equality; and access to sporting facilities. Its approach calls for changes in leadership and investment alongside practical action across those areas.

Some participating bodies have already outlined their commitments. The FA and Aquatics GB are prioritising programmes intended to develop female leaders. Sport England and UK Sport have pledged to work with organisations they fund on governance, with the aim of ensuring that men and women both help shape structures serving men and women.

Schools are another focus. The Youth Sport Trust has committed to helping schools identify and challenge stereotypes in physical education, school sport and physical activity. Its pledge also includes developing male allies who can support gender equality in those settings, placing responsibility for change beyond girls and women alone.

Sports minister Stephanie Peacock welcomed the initiative while acknowledging that progress in women's and girls' sport remained incomplete. She said the government would work with the Equal Sport Project and encouraged other organisations to participate. The ambition she described was for the UK to become a world leader in this area.

Among the government's related commitments, Peacock cited £400 million for grassroots sports facilities and doubling priority access to football pitches for women and girls. She also pointed to hosting the 2027 Tour de France Femmes Grand Depart, the bid for the 2035 Women's World Cup and the government's role chairing the Women's Sport Taskforce.