The Hammers celebrate Kateřina Svitková’s goal

West Ham United marked IWD reinforcing a call to #ChooseToChallenge with an engaged community

 March 04, 2021

West Ham lights up London Stadium to mark International Women's Day ahead of their successful win over Leeds United.

The Premier League, with responsibility for the competition, its Rule Book and the centralised broadcast and other commercial rights, and its clubs consistently promote equality, diversity and inclusion and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to tackling discrimination.

One of the Premier League's 20 clubs, West Ham United Football Club, has been awarded the Premier League’s Equality Standard Advanced level, recognising the club’s ongoing dedication and commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and is showing considerable leadership in forging awareness raising activity and support across its widescale community and significant fan base. 

Mayumi "Maz" Pacheco is an English footballer, who plays as a defender for FA WSL club West Ham United.

Inspiring conversations, supportive mentoring, inclusive leadership 

West Ham United have launched a mentoring programme, initially implemented on a pilot basis, which aims to support the Club's employees to identify and achieve career development and personal growth goals while at the same time supporting the Club's business objectives. The mentoring programme equips participants with the necessary tools to perform at their highest capability in a culture that sees mentorship as an effective form of development. Mentors, from all genders, will mentor the Club's women at all levels.

International Women's Day saw an informative and productive Q&A with West Ham Board United member Baroness Karren Brady of Knightsbridge CBE, Club manager David Moyes, central midfielder and captain Mark Noble, and West Ham footballer Gilly Flaherty.

Also on International Women's Day, the Club hosted a live virtual event with an audience of staff teams, University of East London (UEL) students, and Academy participants to highlight and reinforce the West Ham United Board’s commitment to attracting and retaining female employees, especially in areas where women are under-represented. The event aimed to help challenge barriers and to raise and support the aspirations of internal teams, students, and players. The event shone a light on successful women in the sports industry to highlight and celebrate their success and achievements.

Ensuring women's presence, participation, influence

West Ham United Women Football Club is an English women's football club affiliated with West Ham United.

Not only is West Ham United Football Club recognised for its meaningful community efforts, but the Club also has a proud track record in gender representation. The Club maintains a strong focus on increasing the number of women working throughout all levels of the West Ham United family. As well as flexible working available to staff, the Club offers an enhanced maternity package. And when it comes to the Gender Pay Gap, the Club ensures that all employees doing the same job, regardless of gender, will always receive the same rate of pay while working for West Ham United. They believe in equality, period.

Inclusion and diversity are paramount for the Club

The West Ham United community support the Club's strong focus on diversity and inclusion.

Furthermore, West Ham United's Academy of Football was selected as a Partner Club for the Premier League’s Coach Inclusion and Diversity Scheme. And, West Ham United was the only Partner Club actively looking for a female coach to join the Academy as part of the scheme, which involves a paid 23-month coaching placement across the all age-groups of the Academy. The successful candidate will become a fully integrated member of the coaching staff based at the Chadwell Heath training ground, which the rotational work experience will help accelerate the candidates’ coaching knowledge and ability to better equip them for future full-time coaching work.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the Club designed and implemented several internal online courses and a six-part management series - to date, of those staff who have engaged in the training, 12% have a disability, 48% are female and 33% are of Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority. The Club has also established a thriving Staff Equality Forum that includes 14 employees - a third of whom are women and 65% are from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. Additionally, the Club is proud to be the first football club to launch a formal model for supporter consultation in the Women’s professional game, that sees a West Ham Women Official Supporters’ Board.

West Ham United Football Club has marked previous International Women's Days in various ways