Clubs need to make their sport more accessible, helping low-income families with reduced subscription fees and more flexibility on kit or even a ‘recycling’ of kit – second-hand kid is better for the environment too. Local authorities and businesses should help too. We know that there are so many benefits for girls from being active – mental, physical, social and economic (sport helps in your career too!) so it’s worth their while.

Could you pass your kit on to someone who needs it or create a second-hand kit drop off point? Be sensitive as some people might not feel good about not being able to afford brand new stuff. Find a way to make it anonymous.

First steps

Discuss with your teammates about organising a fundraising event to help with costs of playing like kit costs, travel expenses. What about cat washing, bake sale or simply asking for donations?

Opportunities

This is a pretty important one and comes down to equal opportunities. Girls should have the same opportunities as boys but we know that isn’t always the case. Sometimes there are good reasons such as not enough players, or the club just hadn’t realised (not really good enough, but hey we’re all human!) but it’s always worth asking the question. Perhaps you could get involved with marketing to boost numbers and raise the profile of new teams and the club (also great for investment).

First steps

Identify if the girls and boys have the same opportunities and if not, why that might be and should it be changed.

Equality vs equity

Do you know the difference between equality and equity? We’ve used those words a lot and although they sound similar, they mean different things.

Our friends at Sports Ethics Examiner put it like this

“The notion of equality is at the core of what we generally understand as justice: everyone deserves to be treated with the same respect and dignity.

However, it is important to notice that treating everyone as equals does not always mean treating everyone equally.

This means that in some instances we should acknowledge the existence of inequalities that justify treating people differently, if that will guarantee that this can improve the situation of those with disadvantages.”

This means that we have to recognise that men and women, boys and girls, and all other genders are not the same and we may need to make amendments to allow each gender to play a sport.