Manchester United tenaciously accelerates action for gender equality on and off the field

For a very long time, Manchester United has been one of the main UK Premier League football clubs that has continued to devote incredible time, resources, and effort to helping forge gender equality both on and off the field.

International Women's Day (IWD) 2025 saw the iconic Manchester United shine a light on women around the globe, citing the importance of strength in numbers.

Manchester United Women's Team celebrates individuality and inspiration 

"Everyone has their own story to tell. This IWD 2025 we're celebrating individuality, and highlighting the many inspiring tales of our Reds," said MU Women.

"This International Women's Day we’re celebrating our newest generation of Creator's Academy mentors, and understanding more about what motivates and inspires them each day 💪 #MUFC #MUWomen #WeAreUnited #ManUtd #AccelerateAction," said MU Women's social media post.

The mighty MU Women are victorious

International Women's Day on March 8th saw Manchester United Women's Team (MU Women) defeat Sunderland in the Adobe Women's FA Cup quarterfinal via an impressive 3 - 1 victory.

MU Women certainly accelerated their action on the field, with United Women being straight onto the front foot from the game's start.

Manchester United Foundation accelerates action for gender equality each and every day

Plus, in the lead up to IWD, the Manchester United Foundation continued to elevate its ongoing focus on and support for the younger generation.  

"We're proud to recognise and empower our female participants and young women every single day We encourage you to share in our celebration this International Women's Day -  #IWD25 | #AccelerateAction | #MUWomen," encouraged the foundation.

Ahead of IWD, Manchester United Foundation held a special event at Old Trafford to empower female participants to learn about new industries and career opportunities in a celebration of women’s talent. Over 70 participants took part in inclusive and interactive activities, putting a spotlight on gender equality to support IWD 2025. "Over 70 students enjoyed a careers event at Old Trafford in celebration of International Women's Day, leaving feeling inspired to make a difference," said MU Foundation.

“It made me feel empowered to help make a change, because even though women have already done a lot, it doesn’t mean we have the freedom to do everything.” These were the words of one of the foundation's partner high school pupils, Elyssia, perfectly encapsulating why Manchester United Foundation staged its latest careers event at Old Trafford.

Supporting the International Women’s Day theme of Accelerate Action, more than 70 students had the opportunity to take part in activities that opened their eyes to careers in different industries, and interact with professionals from a wide variety of sectors – while reinforcing that there is still much to be done in the fight for equality. The young people in attendance had the opportunity to take part in some music and DJ activity, brain-training and concentration games, and even spoke with members of the trailblazing Manchester Corinthians women’s football team of the 20th century.

“There was a big variety of activities for us to do,” continued Elyssia, a student at Levenshulme High School. “In quite a few jobs, including football, men get paid more than women, which is something that needs to change. That’s made me feel very empowered and inspired.”

Fellow Levenshulme student, Amira, added: “I’ve enjoyed being around the stadium because I’ve never been here before and I’m a really big United supporter. I enjoyed all the activities, too, they were all really good fun.”

The event was also supported by staff from Manchester United Foundation and club partners DXC Technology and DHL Express, kindly lent their expertise to the young people. Students from Years 7, 8 and 9, across seven of the foundation's partner high schools, were among those participating, taking plenty of wisdom back into their everyday learning to help shape their future aspirations.

“We’ve been learning about how gender shouldn’t affect anything, you can still be you, no matter what,” said Irlam and Cadishead Academy student Poppy. “I think I will be a lot more confident and take all of the skills that I’ve been taught today into consideration and actually do something with that.”

Another Irlam and Cadishead pupil, Freya, concluded: “We’ve been learning about gender equality; that everyone is the same and we are all equal. I feel a lot more confident in my sport, which is football, and much prouder to be a football player.”

And there was a lot more IWD activity as volunteer and former partner school pupil, Irene, spoke about the IWD 2025 celebratory event, sharing her experiences and helping inspire the many young people present.

Plus, continuing support for the Accelerate Action focus, the question "What does International Women's Day mean to you?" was put to MU Women's Evie Rabjohn and Anna Sandberg, along with further MU participants and staff. Get inspired by their fabulous responses!

Manchester United leads the way in helping forge gender equality 

Manchester United continues to strive to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion prevail and that its home at Old Trafford is free from all forms of discrimination.

The club’s own equality programme, All Red All Equal, encompasses all the hard work done by United players, staff, and supporters.

What a club, what brilliant teams, and what a glorious community of supporters and staff. Here's to MU.