International Women’s Day

Aston Villa is proud to celebrate International Women’s Day - a worldwide day to mark the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

The theme for this year’s campaign on Tuesday, March 8 is 'Break The Bias', which incorporates important messaging around celebrating women's achievement, raising awareness against bias and taking action for equality.

The club, continuing its ongoing support for International Women's Day, will be celebrating this year's theme throughout a number of initiatives.

An AVFC video has been produced which features women from across the club and Foundation discussing their own achievements and what more needs to be done to drive equality and challenge bias and sexism.

The video features first-team players Jill Scott, Rachel Corsie and Anita Asante, founding member of a new women’s supporters’ group Sarah Breslin and HR Interns Raynu Sandal and Baneet Shergill.

There are several female engagement programmes within the Aston Villa Foundation through the Villa TeamWork programme, and participant Angela Sharp talks about how Women’s Walking Football supports the mental health and wellbeing of the local community and Villa fans.

Also featured in the video is Rose Hanks, a member of our Dementia Café.

Aston Villa hosts Premier League Changemakers Event

The Foundation will also host a special Changemakers event at Villa Park on International Women’s Day.

Changemakers is a female leadership programme, delivered by the Foundation Interventions Team that seeks to inspire and empower girls aged 11-17 and develop their leadership skills in and away from sport.

The event will see girls from 37 Premier League and EFL clubs across the country come together to celebrate their achievement on the Changemakers course, learn new skills, attend workshops and share their views on relevant topics plus this year’s theme for International Women’s Day - #BreakingTheBias.

Participants will be joined on the day by former first-team player Marissa Ewers, who is now Aston Villa Women Recruitment Analysis and Loans Manager.

The Changemakers programme is supported by Cazoo’s Golden Goals scheme, which provides £1,000 to the Aston Villa Foundation for every league goal scored by both the men’s and women’s teams.

As part of Aston Villa’s continued priority to increase the visibility and representation of women across the workforce, the club launched three pledges in support of Women in Football’s Get Onside campaign.

The club showed its backing for the campaign when it launched in September, encouraging the industry to be on the side of change when it comes to gender equality in football.

We pledged to shine a light on the amazing women currently working at the club and Foundation.

The first of those taking part in the positive initiative to discuss their roles and experiences of working at the club were Angela Lewis and Kerri Welsh.

We are proud to launch our third in the ongoing series, featuring Foundation Project Manager Debbi Rawson, to coincide with International Women's Day.

Staff will also enjoy an International Women’s Day themed breakfast in the Gas Lamp lounge at Villa Park while video screens will help raise awareness of our club campaign video and Get Onside staff case studies.

In addition, our weekly women's football session is taking place each week at Villa Park. This is a new session and we are actively looking for new members.

Email teamwork@avfc.co.uk if you are interested in attending

Happy International Women’s Day from everyone at Aston Villa Football Club.