ARSENAL are among Premier League clubs which have joined in with London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s campaign to tackle violence against women and girls.
The strap line on the posters is: “Male violence against women and girls starts with words. If you see it happening, have a word with yourself, then your mates”.
And it’s been put in match programmes, up on billboards and on bathroom mirrors at the Emirates Stadium.
But the Gunners say they are also trying to tackle the root causes of violence against women in their youth teams and the borough more widely today.
Jack Ironside, Senior manager for Social Inclusion at Arsenal said: “The issue with violence against women is that it can often be private, but we are tackling the taboo by speaking directly to boys and girls about their experiences and their attitudes.
“We work closely with Solace Women’s Aid and in the February half term we delivered pitch-side workshops about attitudes towards women and respect.
“I think it is really important to approach the issue from both angles – by empowering girls and educating boys.”
Arsenal have eight youth teams each for boys and girls.
Mr Ironside said: “An important part of our boys’ programme is their workshops with Brook which teach them about healthy relationships and attitudes to women. We also ensure that there are plenty of women on our staff teams, so the boys have a variety of role models.
A significant driver of violence against women is the adherence to rigidly-defined gender roles.
Mr Ironside added: “We are working with Solace now to develop a training package for our staff on positive masculinity.
“In this way, we can ensure our staff have are educated to deliver the right message in our community projects.”
He said there was definitely more to be done, and one thing that needed to be implemented was more mixed-sex activities.
“The catered support we provide to girls and boys means we typically have them split into separate groups, but encouraging the children to take what they have learnt and interact with each other is important.”
