International Women’s Day 2021 - How our female coaches are changing the world
Monday 8th March 2021 marks the recurring celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD). Especially during such a trying period in human history, it is important to remember and pay tribute to the understated role women have in our society everyday. The past year has seen women losing their job at a vastly higher rate than men, mothers at home dealing with the emotional toll the pandemic has had on their families, and generally noting the disproportionate rate at which the pandemic has affected women compared to their male counterparts.
History
The decision to celebrate International Women’s Day dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, when after a few years of the U.S.A. celebrating National Women’s Day, Austria, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland also joined the cause. It should be noted this was a pivotal time for women’s rights, and many of the women behind this movement were also protesting and demanding voting rights and civil rights. In 1975, the 8th of March was also recognised by the United Nations as International Women’s Day, recognising however that it could be celebrated on any other day of the year if necessary, in keeping with local history and traditions. For International Women’s Day 2021, the theme is #ChooseToChallenge. To learn more about International Women’s Day, please visit www.internationalwomensday.com/About.
Women at RTB
At Run the Bases, we are constantly trying to balance a world which we believe to be unfairly gendered. Within our organisation, we have both male and female coaches. We are always working to encourage more young girls and women to become coaches, role models and central members within their communities, because we believe women and girls need to be visible in positions of leadership in order for attitudes and behaviours towards them to change. Working in the Gambia, we are aware that there are expectations of women to work around the house and be at home most of the time. We are not seeking to change these social dynamics and balances as we understand that each society works differently. However, we do want to ensure that the voices of our female members are heard, and offer them the chance to empower themselves and achieve whichever role they seek within their communities.
Adama Jarju
Very few members of our community are more representative of our vision than our coach Adama Jarju. A central member of her community in Sifoe, Adama is always working hard on projects that empower women and offer young girls the chance to be involved in sports. In the past month she has successfully completed her Gambia Football Federation Level 3 coaching course, where she was one of two females amongst 28 male counterparts. This course has allowed her to start coaching men’s local football teams, but the award still comes with some limitations as she is a female. We caught up with her to learn more:
“I am now coaching the men’s team at Berending, but it hasn’t been easy because they believe that men should coach men and women should coach women. Many people laugh when I tell them I am in charge, and they are visibly surprised.
I am currently focused on building the team through better training. I have an assistant who helps out during our weekly sessions, and unfortunately he also has to take my place on match days, as being a female means I am not allowed on the bench during the game.
They are a medium level team, but our main issue is that many players aren’t showing up to training. We normally only get 10 or so at every session, but we need a full squad in order to train as a unit. We need to have everyone working together, because what you do in training is what you then do in the game. Tomorrow we will be sitting down with them to remind them about this”
We wish Adama all the best and will keep you all updated on her coaching journey, both as a RTB coach and as an active member of her community. In order to support Adama and many other female coaches and athletes like her, please consider donating if you can, or joining us for our upcoming virtual wine tasting event. For more information, please visit runthebases.org.
