With International Women’s Day coming up, Women in Football (WIF), a networking organisation representing more than 1,200 women employed across the football industry, has announced a campaign calling for an end to sexism, harassment and misogynistic abuse in the beautiful game.

According to a survey the organisation ran last year, while more than 66% of women working in the industry had witnessed sexism in the workplace, 89% had not reported it, feeling that it wouldn’t be taken seriously. “Clubs already have clear reporting procedures around discriminatory abuse,” explains WIF co-founder Anna Kessel, “but haven’t before been specifically instructed to act on sexist abuse.”

She questions what impact this may have: “If overt sexist abuse is tolerated in football stadiums – at some of the most iconic grounds in the country – then what hope is there for the women working in football’s offices, training grounds, TV studios and boardrooms, who encounter it privately?”

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​The sexism that Kessel outlines is corroborated by a large number of testimonies submitted to the Everyday Sexism Project, detailing harassment at both professional and amateur grounds by fans and players alike. One referee writes that she has lost count of the number of times male players have commented on her gender and appearance: “It’s always along the lines of ‘nice legs, ref’, ‘you’re the sexiest referee I’ve seen all season’, ‘nice arse’, etc. One player even asked how I managed to keep my tits from freezing.”

In another written account, one fan recalls witnessing a humiliating experience: “At a freezing cold football match. The game was going on and one lady in her early 20s, who was most likely employed at the stadium, had to walk along the front of our stand. Cue a chorus of ‘Get your tits out for the lads’ from pretty much a whole section of the stand to my right. She just shuffled away. I felt so sorry for her.” Often, the problem spills out of the stadium, as women report being on the receiving end of abuse from fans on their way to or from matches.

The idea that football is a man’s game also persists more widely ​– countless project submissions come from girls who are told they aren’t allowed to take part in matches at school or in local parks (unless they choose to participate as cheerleaders).

Kessel fears all this could be putting women off getting involved: “These scenarios surely feed into the stats ​– just six women on the FA Council of 121 members, only one woman on the FA board, no women on the Premier League board, just eight women on boards across all 20 Premier League clubs.” A similar disparity exists among football medics and journalists.

​There are simple, concrete changes that football clubs could enact to at least try to redress this imbalance. Most clubs, for example, don’t provide separate changing rooms for female staff. “We hear,” says Kessel, “that highly qualified women are getting changed in the toilet cubicle while their male colleagues enjoy their own changing rooms.”

The WIF campaign will see the first ​steward’s briefing note on sexism distributed to officials at all 92 professional clubs. The material, used to train match-day stewards and stadium safety officials, has already been piloted by a Premier League club, resulting in excellent feedback.

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A month-long campaign on social media will also seek to highlight examples of sexism in football using the hashtag #ShameOnTheGame. But WIF are determined not to focus exclusively on the negative – clubs will also be sent a template encouraging them to profile a female staff member in their next match-day programme, and the contribution of talented women to the sport will be celebrated online using the hashtag #SheBelongs.​

For all of the problems, there’s reason to be optimistic. ​Data released by Kick It Out, a charity seeking equality and inclusion in football, ​last August revealed a 269% increase in incidents of discrimination being reported to the organisation ​in the 2013/14 season. We are starting to see high-profile players and clubs taking a stand against abuse. Kessel hopes that the fight against sexism can be incorporated ​into the wider push to eradicate prejudice from pitches and stands alike.

The old adage might ​say: “Rugby is a thugs’ game played by gentlemen, and football is a gentlemen’s game played by thugs.” But how heartening it would be, on International Women’s Day, to see the footballing community pulling together to prove it wrong.