A few weeks ago Aston Villa manager Carla Ward was featured in a documentary about mothers in football. “I have a little girl who is four, and she just talks about what she sees,” Ward says. “He likes to tell everyone that his mother is the manager of Aston Villa.”
During filming, the documentary filmmakers asked her daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up. The answer? A football manager. “They said: ‘Why?’ they said. “He said, ‘Because I see my mom doing it,’” Ward recalls.
As one of five female coaches across 12 clubs in the Women’s Super League, it is important for Ward to be visible on a personal level. “You think to yourself: The more these young girls can see this, the more they’ll believe they can go and do it. And I am very assertive about this.
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Despite the rapid growth of women’s football in recent years, the lack of female managers and coaches at senior levels is notable. At last year’s Women’s World Cup, only 12 of the 32 head coaches were women. While there have been temporary appointments in men’s professional football, a female coach has yet to be appointed as a permanent manager. Emma Hayes, who led Chelsea to four consecutive WSL titles last month, described the lack of female coaches as a “huge problem” and told the BBC: “We’ve got a lot of work to do to close that gap.”
According to Ward, there are female coaches; The problem is that they are not given the chance to shoot. “Being in the game myself, I know there are a lot of women out there who are good enough, but this is an opportunity. “I think people need to open the door.”
Ward emphasizes that he “gives great importance to the right person for the right job”, adding: “Visibility is very important. So how do we get that visibility? I’m not sure. But I definitely think there are a lot of missed opportunities at the moment in terms of how clubs recruit.”
We have to keep shouting, keep fighting, and make sure we eliminate the dinosaurs.
In the Women’s Championship, the figures are more promising: six out of 12 coaches are women. Among them is former professional player Remi Allen, who was appointed head coach of London City Lionesses in early March. Things are starting to change for Allen, but there’s still work to be done. “I think this person has to be the best person for the job,” Allen says, echoing Ward. “In the past, women were absolutely 100% uncontrolled or punished for being women. [and] I think it’s slowly starting to change. But we need more, we definitely need more.”
Like Ward, Allen says female coaches need more ways to get their foot in the door. “There are definitely a lot of women out there that I know who are incredible coaches who aren’t getting opportunities.”
Yet the wheels are in motion. In December, the FA reported an 83% increase in the number of female coaches with Level 1 qualifications and above between October 2021 and October 2023. Governing bodies also have various programs to increase the number of female coaches. England coach Sarina Wiegman is among 10 elite female coaches participating in UEFA’s mentoring program aimed at increasing the number of top female coaches. Allen speaks highly of being part of the FA’s England elite coaching programme, where she worked as an assistant coach for the Lionesses under-23s.
But sexism remains prevalent in women’s football, and coaching is no exception. A survey by Kick It Out last month found that four in five female football coaches reported experiencing sexism in the coaching environment. The survey findings are “frustrating” for Allen, who previously played for Aston Villa, Leicester and Reading. He says: “It’s been my whole career, as you always see… I feel like clubs are now starting to put things in place to make sure that doesn’t happen. But in my opinion, you need to have a strong stance because there is no way a woman can go to work and experience that.”
NewCo will take over the top two tiers of English women’s football towards the end of this year and Allen is calling on the independent body to invest in female coaches. For Allen, the first-hand experience of many female coaches in women’s football means they have a lot to bring to the table. “We understand the women’s game because we have lived it, breathed it and experienced its ups and downs,” she says.
In the meantime, Ward wants to keep moving forward. “We are all in this together, trying to fight and move the women’s game forward,” she says. “Of course there will be sexism, there still is, but those of us in this position have to keep shouting, keep fighting, and make sure we take out the dinosaurs, as I like to call it.”
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