I hope and expect there are female coaches out there who are saying they want to do what I do, and if I can play a part in that and when I step away from the game can say 'I was the first,' then I'm proud of that too.
Emma HayesRead
We talk about women in football like we are not entitled to the same opportunity and the same access.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for equal opportunities for women in football.
Emma Hayes highlights the disparity in opportunities and access afforded to women in football, pointing out the societal attitudes that often deny them the same chances as their male counterparts. This call for recognition and change urges us to support equality in sports, reflecting a broader necessity for gender equity across all fields.
In practice
During a panel discussion on sports equality, this quote can be cited to emphasize the ongoing issues faced by women athletes.
I hope and expect there are female coaches out there who are saying they want to do what I do, and if I can play a part in that and when I step away from the game can say 'I was the first,' then I'm proud of that too.
Fran Kirby, Pernille Harder, Beth England, Magda Eriksson, Millie Bright, Maren Mjelde - do you want me to keep going? These are world class players. Women's football is not a step down from anything.
The one thing I would say is, I do think women are evaluated differently than men. How we look, what is our age? Do you see a ton of 55-year-old women in sports television? No. But there are men in their 60s and 70s across many networks who are still in sports television.
Today, despite all of the gains we have made, neither men nor women have real choice. Until women have supportive employers and colleagues as well as partners who share family responsibilities, they don't have real choice. And until men are fully respected for contributing inside the home, they don't have real choice either.
In many parts of the world, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. But I think we need women to solve the problems that men create.
Men are not the enemy, but the fellow victims. The real enemy is women's denigration of themselves.
Whether women are better than men I cannot say - but I can say they are certainly no worse.
Women have much to tell us. Women are capable of seeing things in a different angle. Women can pose questions that we men cannot understand.
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