NEWS

BSDA is partner in Football as a seed for gender equality

14.01.2021

The objective of the project "Football as a seed for gender equality" is to fight discrimination and gender inequality through sport. Although sport is a phenomenon that involves both men and women, it is characterized by profound gender differences: men participate more in sport than women. In particular, women's participation is very low in sports such as football, which in the collective imagination is considered a "male sport" and not suitable for women. The lower participation of women is a consequence of gender roles imposed by the society which inevitably influence the desires, interests and aspirations of boys and girls.

Taking this into account and statistical data, with this project we want to contribute to increase women's active participation in sports, break down gender stereotypes and bring to the conclusion that there are no male or female sports, but everyone should feel free to follow his own aspirations, feeling free from conditioning. In order to achieve the project's objectives, associations from Italia, Austria and Bulgaria will organize a sports competition between 12 football teams mixed both from gender and nationality. This event will be a moment of meeting and confrontation between 60 boys and girls from the partner countries. By playing and spending their time together, young sportsmen and sportswomen will confront themselves on women's participation in sport and learn to consider gender, cultural and linguistic differences as an added value rather than an obstacle. During this competition a conference will be organized focusing on the importance of the sport, gender equality and how to prevent violence against women. These activities will be combined with awareness-raising campaigns in schools to challenge gender stereotypes and prevent prejudices and low participation of women in sports.

Football as a seed for gender equality is co-funded by ErasmusPlus programme of the European Union.