Football campaign for boardroom diversity opens doors at House of Lords
Women in Football gives progress update at Westminster on its Open Doors agenda and says it will unveil ‘exciting news’
Before the 2023 Women’s World Cup final the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, urged women to “push at the doors” of power in their drive for equality. “With men, with Fifa, you will find open doors,” he said. “Just push the doors. I say to all the women – and you know I have four daughters, so I have a few at home – that you have the power to change. Pick the right battles. Pick the right fights. You have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. You do it. Just do it.”
A month later, in response to Infantino’s heavily criticised comments, the UK-based organisation Women in Football, which has about 10,000 members, launched its Open Doors agenda. It calls on Fifa and other football bodies to mandate diverse leadership in national associations and work towards a 30% female membership of general assemblies and executive committees, and calls for the inclusion of independent nonexecutive members on executive committees, for presidential term limits and for action on sexism and discrimination in the workplace.