The Southend West MP swapped the green benches and speeches for goal posts and footballs as she celebrated International Women’s Day with students from Our Lady of Lourdes.
The FA set up the biggest ever football session for International Women’s Day, ‘Let Girls Play Football’, which saw thousands of young female students across the country take part in the campaign day to call for change and improve access to the sport.
Research shared as part of the campaign shows that football is very popular amongst girls, with 91% of girls that don’t play wanting the opportunity to do so.
Visiting Our Lady of Lourdes on Wednesday morning, Anna was put through her paces as she practiced key skills such as dribbling and penalty shoot-outs.
During the activities, she celebrated what it meant to be a woman in the modern world and told the students that they should absolutely have access to the same opportunities as anyone else.
This comes off the back of a major announcement from the Government today, which sets out new standards for equal access to sports across schools, making it clear that girls and boys should be offered the same sports during PE and extracurricular time in schools.
This is backed by a package of cross-government funding to help boost sport and activities both inside and outside school hours including the confirmation of over £600 million in funding over the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium.
Anna said,
“The ‘Let Girls Play Football’ campaign is truly inspiring and such a great way to celebrate International Women’s Day. There’s nowhere else I would have rather been today.”
“As a woman in politics, I truly believe we must continue to empower future generations to embrace equal opportunities for women and give these young girls a future they deserve.”
“There’s still work to do, but I am so happy that they are able to play a sport that was predominantly male focused when I was growing up.”
Mrs Blainey, Our Lady of Lourdes Teacher, said,
“I am really pleased with the turnout today, and I am really excited with the announcement of the further funding and getting PE in school for two hours a week minimum.”
“This will ensure that there’s equality across the curriculum for girls and boys to get involved in sports.”
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