Scottish football organisations team up with feminist charity Zero Tolerance to support social media campaign on International Women’s Day

Scottish football organisations have joined forces with Zero Tolerance’s twitter campaign to take a stand against men’s violence against women and girls (VAWG) on International Women’s Day.

League associations and football clubs across the country are supporting the feminist charity working to end VAWG by tackling gender inequality with the game.

Recent evidence shows the sexism that exists within Scottish football after a recent survey of female fans conducted by the Scottish Football Supporters Association and Her Game Too, found 1 in 4 female fans had experienced sexist or misogynistic comments whilst attending matches.

Nearly half had witnessed others receive similar abuse and over a third had received abuse online. Women footballers also face sexism and abuse.

The Press & Journals’ survey of women footballers in the north and north-east of Scotland, published in February found over 70% of female respondents experienced sexism and over 40% experienced verbal abuse.

Woman in Football’s 2022 survey found two-thirds of women have experienced gender discrimination in the footballing workplace.

Zero Tolerance are asking the Scottish football community to demonstrate to clubs, players, and fans, that men’s VAWG has no place in football or our wider community by tweeting their Zero Tolerance of violence against women and girls on and off the pitch.

Laura Tomson, co-director of Zero Tolerance said: “Football has a special place in Scottish society and players are role models to fans young and old, so it’s important clubs are clear in the message that violence against women and girls is not acceptable.

“There’s a lot of work to do, but we’re heartened by the positive engagement we’ve received from the Scottish football community and hope this is the start of meaningful work to making Scottish football a safer space for women and ending VAWG in Scotland.”

Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the SPFL, stated: “Football has a uniquely powerful voice which cuts across all sections of Scottish society and it’s therefore fitting that we play a part in supporting Zero Tolerance and others in efforts to raise the profile of this crucial issue.

“It’s particularly appropriate, given our recently announced partnership with the professional women’s game in Scotland and we hope that, by lending our support, we can help to challenge the utterly unacceptable reality of violence against women.”

Aileen Campbell Scottish Women’s Football CEO added: “SWF stands united with Zero Tolerance to drive forward positive change in our sport and across society.

“The change we so desperately need will not happen by accident. It will require commitment, hard work and resolve across the entire football family.

“SWF will continue to agitate for structural change, equality in boardrooms and a respect agenda for the women’s game.

“Women and girls need to know that football is absolutely a sport for us. We will not put up with behaviours and attitudes that must be relegated to the past.”

15-time Scottish Women Premier League champions Glasgow City are backing the campaign and wore the Zero Tolerance logo on their strips during Sunday’s match against Motherwell as well as holding up cards prior to kick-off to raise awareness of the issue.

Glasgow City chief executive, Laura Montgomery commented: “International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

“The campaign also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity and raising awareness of real issues affecting our gender. One of these is violence against women and girls.

“Women and girls need to be safe on and off the pitch. They need to be safe at home, in public spaces, online, anywhere.

“Collectively we must all come together to do everything we can to eradicate this real issue within our society. We are wholeheartedly behind Zero Tolerance and their campaign and believe football and its influence on society can be a power for good and make a real impact in this area.”