Calls for FIFA to increase roles for women

A collation of more than 75 athletes have called on FIFA to increase the roles of women within the FIFA Executive Committee.

The signatories include Olympic Gold medallists, FIFA Women's World Cup winners, current and retired, men and women from different nations and athletes from a vast array of sports, from basketball to football, gymnastics to American football and ski jumping to tennis.

In the letter, it urges the FIFA Reform C0ommittee to act on the under-representation of women in FIFA by including measures to ensure 30% of FIFA ExCo positions are held by women.

“This is not only what’s fair and right. It’s also what’s best for the sport that is in dire need of reform.”

“In the 111 years since Fifa was formed women are still vastly under-represented at every level of the world’s most loved game.”

Currently only three women sit on the FIFA ExCo, the highest body in FIFA, with Burundi’s Lydia Nsekera elected in 2013 with  Moya Dodd (Australia) and Sonia Bien-Aime (Turks & Caicos) becoming co-opted members

Dodd is one of the Australian signatories alongside former and current Matildas Sally Shipard, Michelle Heyman and Emily van Egmond.

Australian tennis doubles great Rennae Stubbs and Olympic snowboarder Belle Brockhoff have also joined the calls for reform.

“Although Fifa outlaws discrimination based on gender and is a recent signatory of the Brighton + Helsinki Declaration, only three of the 26 ExCo members are women; just two of 209 member association presidents are women, and women make up less than one percent of the voting population in the Fifa Congress. This is not Fair Play,” the letter stated.

The letter also argues that the target could begin the process of a cultural shift with an organisation whose outward perception has suffered in the past decade.

“With 30%, women cease to be regarded as a special interest group and become ‘normalised’ as part of the mainstream. No wonder so many governments have targets of 30% or more women.”

“France, Germany, Italy and Holland are among them. Further, it is still the case that many girls grow into women without having the chance to experience the joy of the game."

"Under-resourcing reinforces the perception that football is a game for men, confining women to the margins and creating an environment for discrimination.”

The 30% target is just one of several proposals put forward by the FIFA Task Force for Women’s Football as part of a detailed plan to increase the overall participation of women in football.

FULL SUBMISSION

The submission also speaks to addressing the under-resourcing of women's football and provides proposals in relation to governance, competitions & participation and business settled on at the 2015 FIFA Women's Football Symposium.

The FIFA Reform Committee is set to hold its third meeting in Zurich on 19-20 November 2015, where it will consolidate its final set of reform proposals.

Chairman François Carrard will report those proposals at the December 2015 FIFA ExCo.

Full list of signatories (as at 12pm AEST)

(* Olympic Athletes)