Gillian Keegan the MP for Chichester has pledged her support for the #WhatIf campaign from Women in Football and sponsor Betfair.
The #WhatIf campaign is an innovative campaign, driven largely by social channels which is designed to encourage parliamentarians, businesses, members of the public and celebrities to take action to improve the landscape for every woman in football. It challenges them to identify one way that they can contribute to an improvement for women and girls within the football industry.
At the reception on Wednesday 6th February, Gillian Keegan joined the hundreds of people who have taken part by pledging ‘to train with Chichester women’s football team’.
Gillian posted after the event saying: It was great to attend the #WomensFootball event in #Parliament and support getting more girls into the sport.
Jane Purdon, CEO of Women in Football said,
“It’s truly heartening to learn that Gillian Keegan has made a personal pledge to champion women working in and around the football industry, and the women’s game. I would encourage anyone who has been inspired by this campaign to get involved and make their own pledge, however big or small, by using the hashtag #WhatIf on Twitter.“
Naomi Totten, Spokesperson for Betfair, said:
“We are delighted to be a headline sponsor of the #WhatIf campaign, it’s been incredible to see so many people, including Gillian Keegan, pledging their own support and committing to driving the development of women’s football and conditions for women within the industry forward.
“In addition to sponsoring the campaign, Betfair also pledged to ring-fence 50% of our Cash4Clubs grassroots sports grants to women’s teams and are pleased to say that we have already fulfilled this pledge.
“In 2017 Betfair also committed to increasing the number of women in the UK with a professional football coaching licence in an attempt to address gender inequality in the English coaching pyramid. As it stands, at the very top, there are just 5 women on a UEFA pro license in the UK compared with nearly 300 men. There is still lots to be done and we hope that the What If pledges will continue to push the agenda forward.”
