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Football has a gender problem.

Men dominate the game at every level, from Champions League boardrooms to the terraces on match day.

Take a glance at grounds up and down the country and you’ll find that crowds are still hugely male-dominated.

But go to Goodison Park and you'll notice a difference. A subtle difference, perhaps, but a difference all the same.

Walk around the ground on matchday and you’ll see mums, grandmothers and little girls in full Everton kits making their way in.

They’re still in the minority - but there’s no doubting the fact that there are more women at Goodison than most other grounds in the Premier League.

Throughout Everton’s 140-year history, the club has led the way time and again, earning Goodison a proud reputation as the ‘home of firsts’.

This trail-blazing approach extends beyond the pitch - and the club has always taken strides to be more inclusive and welcoming for all their fans.

We spoke to lifelong supporters, fanzine makers and the next generation of ‘girl fans’ about what it is that makes Goodison’s female following so big, so visible and so unique.

“Women are more visible at Goodison”

Looking at the stands on matchday or the crowds filing into the stadium can often feel like a sea of male faces - but one woman has made it her mission to bring female fans to the forefront.

Jacqui McAssey set up her own fanzine called Girlfans which captures female fans at clubs across the North West.

Her work has taken her to a number of Premier League clubs, but she started closer to home by photographing women at Anfield and Goodison on matchday.

In 2015, the former fashion graduate followed up her debut Liverpool issue by crossing Stanley Park and shooting Everton fans.

The result is a honest, evocative and passionate depiction of female football fans in the modern age.

Her Everton fanzine features everything from teenage girls with bleached-blue hair to lifelong fans with club tattoos.

While Jacqui’s focus is always on the women who might be less visible in usual matchday coverage, she said she noticed a distinct difference at Goodison in terms of the number of women attending.

She said: “It felt very local. It still felt like a family club with little girls everywhere. There are more children. I think it’s got to be to do with how much easier it is to get a season ticket. If you had two children you might be able to take them both. It also comes down to affordability.”

Everton’s adult and junior season tickets are more affordable than those across the park in Anfield - but there’s also less of a gridlock when it comes to getting your hands on one.

The Toffees’ season tickets are over-subscribed - but the waiting list is nothing compared with Liverpool’s seemingly never-ending queue of supporters.

If you’re an Everton fan hoping to take your children to the match on a regular basis, it’s not inconceivable. Especially when kids’ season tickets are frozen at only £95.

It’s not just younger supporters that make up the female face at Goodison though. Jacqui said: “I’ve met much older Everton supporters who are lifelong supporters and are very engaged in what goes on in the club. Women are more visible at Goodison.

“You talk to certain people and they’ll tell you there’s loads of women who sit around them. It’s a bit like pointing out the obvious because if you sit at the game you just know that.”

Jacqui also felt there was a determination among Evertonians to bring their children up as ardent fans - whether they’re blessed with a boy or a girl. She said: “I’ve got friends and cousins who had daughters and it’s like they’re really fervent Everton supporters.

“It feels almost quite natural that women are there. It really felt like a community, the feeling around the club felt very strong to me as an observer.”

Born not manufactured

Walk around Goodison on matchday and one of the first things you’ll notice is the number of children and young people in the crowds.

With kids season tickets frozen at £95 and junior tickets just £149, it’s easy to see why so many Blues can regularly go the match as a family.

The club does a lot to include and encourage its younger fans - and that’s having a massive impact on the next generation of female Evertonians.

I spoke with Amelia Jenks and Eve Donnelly, two members of Everton’s Junior Fans’ Forum. While the girls are aged just 16 and 14 respectively, they’ve got some big opinions about what it means to be a female football fan.

Both girls have been going to Goodison for as long as they can remember, accompanied by mothers, sisters and aunties.

I asked Amelia and Eve why they think Everton has so many fervent female fans. They thought the answer lay somewhere in the club’s efforts to target young fans and to make them feel included. Both girls felt this fostered an atmosphere around the club that was welcoming and inclusive to everyone.

Amelia said: “I think Everton are more welcoming. They do a lot for the community so then everyone gets involved.

“They do a lot even for like younger kids, getting them involved in football or the junior fans’ forum that we’re part of everyone can apply and there are lots of girls on it as well. It’s just a lot of things you can get involved in so why wouldn’t you want to?

“We got involved with the new stadium that’s going to be built and we asked other young supporters their views so we got a big broad variety of everyone’s opinions so it includes everyone.

“If everyone’s going to go the game it needs to be a place for everyone. We are a family so everyone gets involved.”

Eve agreed, saying: “There’s a lot of good things because [the club] doesn’t just target adults. They bring children into it as well, like with the youth groups and things, they’re all part of it and it’s welcoming. It’s not just older men, there are a lot of young people on a match day.”

Both girls have been going the game for as long as they can remember - but at 14 and 16 that’s not very long at all. Despite this, they both have a sense of perspective on how the face of Everton has changed over time thanks to their families.

Eve said: “It used to just be a big load of men but now you see a mix of everyone. It’s good to see.

“I was born and brought up into [supporting Everton] but I think for women it’s been going for years. Even when my mum was younger she used to go to Bellefield every day and wait for the players.

“Because she’s done it, I want to do it - she’s brought me up into it. I look at my mum and I look Everton and it’s not just my dad. She used to go the game loads as well, it’s not just men.”

Amelia added: “In terms of stereotypes, it’s not just older men that go the match anymore. Even when you see old pictures of the history of the club, you can see that they crowd has changed.”

“You’re just accepted as one of the lads”

For many football fans, the memory of matchday being an almost exclusively male domain isn’t all that distant.

The ECHO’s head of sport and lifelong Evertonian David Prentice recalled his early match-going days in the 70s, when it was practically unheard of to see women at the ground.

Football is still very firmly a man’s world - and the fact remains that male spectators far outnumber women at every Premier League club.

At Goodison, one in every five fans is a woman.

The ECHO understands Everton's rate of female fans is slightly higher than the Premier League average across all clubs.

The number of women and girls in the stands is clear to see whether you’re at the ground on matchday or watching coverage on TV.

One of the club’s proud female fans is season ticket holder Jeanette Salmon, a mum-of-two from Netherton who’s followed the Toffees for as long as she can remember.

She added: “I’ve been a fan from when I could remember because I was born into a massive Blue family. My first game I remember vividly was against Sheffield.

“I remember it and I was only a kid, about six or seven, and my dad and two uncles took me to the game.

“I just remember we were in Gwladys Street when it was all standing and I remember my dad saying ‘I’m going to take you to the top of these stairs and when you get to the top you’re going to see the best sight you will ever see.’ I just remember it taking my breath away.”

I spoke to Jeanette about why she thinks Everton has so many women supporters. While ticket affordability and accessibility was undoubtedly a factor, she pointed to something less palpable than prices or waiting lists.

For Jeanette, the number of female fans comes down to the club’s ethos, its place as the ‘people’s club’ and its place within the community.

She said: “I think [ticket prices and accessibility] must have an impact. I think there’s a palpable family-friendly feel at the club. I go with my son Matty but we sit separately now.

“We go to the game together and I do see a lot of families there - but the opportunity to go to the Hub or the Blue Base or the fan zone - it’s very family friendly.

“It runs through the club - I know from meetings we have and focus groups we have with fans that it runs through the club.

“I can’t speak for our friends across the park because I’ve not experienced that on match day but I only know from my experience that on match day you see a lot of mums with their kids. It’s that kind of feel - the club has a family feel.”

Jeanette is on Everton’s Fans’ Forum - where a select group of fans represent the supporters on important issues. She feels the forum has a fairly equal gender balance - and that it’s important women’s voices are well represented in their work with the club.

She said: “We have got forum members from across the spectrum. We’ve got mums, business women, young people, career people. It’s a great mix so we are able to bring that voice to it.

“As much as we don’t see ourselves as being any different, you’re a fan, but there are times where I just think it’s important that there’s that level of equality. That wasn’t by design, it was just how it worked. It goes to the public vote and the public vote for you, so you’re not chosen because you’re a woman.

“Men and women are represented equally in the focus groups, working directly with the club. We have where we work with the club and discuss how we can better support, represent and help female fans.”

When it comes to actually going to the match, it can be intimidating entering a traditionally male-dominated space - but Jeanette thinks Everton’s stewards play a massive part in making Goodison a welcoming and safe atmosphere for every fan.

Everton’s stewards have consistently been ranked top of the league, and Jeanette said she thinks it makes a huge difference in making women feel safe at the match. She said: “Our stewards are fantastic - they are so good and so well trained. You get a sense of feeling supported and protected.

“I don’t go to away games but a couple of the girls we know do go to every away and home game and say that our stewards are spot on. If you do go on your own to a game you feel looked after, for want of a better word. It’s very much a support that you know is going to be there.”

She added: “Women are just accepted as one of the lads. We have the same stewards on your post where you sit every week.”

The Home of Firsts

Evertonians are proud to call Goodison Park the ‘home of firsts’ - so proud they even emblazoned it on a giant poster and adorned it outside the stadium.

While undersoil heating, dugouts and the FA Club final all landed at Goodison first, the club has also led the way by taking important strides towards making women equal in the beautiful game.

The Blues were one of the first Premier League sides to give their women’s team genuine importance and attention - and that continues to this day, with the ladies' team unveiling this season's first team away kit.

Off the pitch, the club also works hard to ensure female fans feel included and valued.

Everton recently became the first football club in England to welcome breastfeeding at the match.

Mums are now able to breastfeed at Goodison and any other Everton in the Community venues, since the football club and the official charity both joined the council’s breastfeeding-friendly initiative.

The match hasn't always been the most welcome space for female fans - but Everton is taking major steps in trying to combat that.