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Listen, aren’t we sick of this by now? I definitely am.
Today, in case you somehow managed to miss every single brand talking about it, is International Women’s Day. A full day to celebrate women, their contributions, and their achievements. Liverpool did exactly what you thought they’d do to celebrate this day and paid the barest of minimum in lip service to the women’s club (hey, they still exist, remember them?) and also made Virgil van Dijk, a father of daughters, talk about his daughters. TLO author (and woman), Jordan Keeble laid out exactly why this is wrong and frustrating in an excellent piece this morning.
The fact that this is all Liverpool announced despite the state of the women’s team right now (we’re back at the bottom of the league for anyone wondering), and the fact that all we heard about the women’s team in today’s Livergirls event (featuring CEO Peter Moore) is the promise of “some great announcements” shouldn’t surprise any of us at this point.
Some great announcements to come says @Vick_Jepson regarding @LiverpoolFCW.
— Caoimhe O’Neill (@CaoimheSport) March 8, 2020
We can only assume that, if we had been privy to the conversations happening in the background, we’d have heard something like this:
PR Person: Oh crap! It’s International Women’s Day soon. We should do something!
Peter Moore: How about we release something on our Twitter account. We know plenty of people who know women! Get one of them to talk about that experience.
PR Person: Hold on. Mr. Moore, we actually know some women, too! I think we have several receiving a laughable amount of money and resources from us, even!
Peter Moore: Egads! By golly! Get them involved, too! What a fresh angle we’re going to have!
PR Person: What if we do more than that and have an event, too! What if during that event you, the CEO of this club, ask the women gathered whether they have a crush on Jurgen Klopp?
Peter Moore: You deserve a raise, PR person! Take the money I would never have thought to invest in the women’s side!
We can only hope the announcements coming are following in the footsteps of every other women’s club in the league, including Everton. It should go without saying that the treatment of the women’s club continues to be absolutely disgraceful. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to keep saying it until something changes.
