Gender

Despite being elite athletes, female footballers often encounter sexist discrimination and abuse. Like all women, female players have to navigate unwarranted criticism and overwhelming scrutiny of their abilities and performance, simply for being women. This type of abuse is called misogyny.

As the players’ union for footballers playing in the Women’s Super League, protecting and supporting female players is one of our top priorities.

This has included supporting the professionalisation of the women’s game since 2000 and working closely with The FA to develop centralised contracts for female players at national and league level. These contracts protect players from gender-based discrimination and make sure key issues such as maternity rights are not overlooked.

Our commitment to our female members also means they have full parity with their male counterparts and can access all PFA and PFA Charity support and services. We also launched a department dedicated to women’s football in early 2020, to keep up with the rapid development of the women’s game, represent our female members and provide focused attention to their specific needs.