Puma's Period Progression
It is no secret that women in football face a lot of stumbling blocks along the road to success.
From pay inequality to a huge lack of opportunities, and often just general misogyny. Women certainly have a lot to deal with when it comes to making it big in sport. Especially within sports that are stereotypically "male".
While effort is definitely being made to tackle some of the bigger issues facing women in the industry, often some of the smaller issues can be overlooked.
One of the issues that has been repeatedly overlooked is that of periods. Something which many women have to deal with on a regular basis, and yet, something that has been brushed under the rug.
As anyone who experiences periods knows, they can come with their fair share of gnarly side effects, and for those whose career requires them to be on top physical form, that time of the month can be a particularly stressful one. Stress that can quickly increase when faced with the possibility of leaking onto light coloured clothing, or worse - WHITE clothing.
That is why Women's Super League team Manchester City, sponsored by sports brand Puma, have announced that from next season their kit will no longer consist of white shorts.
This decision follows a number of other football clubs that have also made a change to their kit. Most notably fellow WSL team Aston Villa, who opted for navy shorts over white. As well as FA Women's National League team Stoke City, who changed their shorts to red.
A number of people involved in the change spoke on their commitment to allowing players to perform at their highest level at all times, believing that by removing the fear of staining a white pair of shorts they subsequently remove any unnecessary stress being caused at that time of the month.
Both the club and the kit provider Puma are said to have had discussions with their players in order to make a well informed decision about kit colours, with the most important information coming straight from the players themselves.
A move such as this is definitely a sign of progression within the women's game. The issue of periods in sport has been something women have been highlighting for a long time, and with 2022 signalling quite a shift within women's football, it is nice to see that England's Euros win wasn't the only big change being made this year.
In my opinion, both from a personal and PR perspective, this move is certainly one for the books. With such big leaps being taken in women's football this year, small changes like kit colours, etc clearly show that the needs of female players are now being catered for. Something which, for years prior, has never really been visible within the game.
Up until very recently, Women's football was simply seen as the inferior to Men's football, and it was not surprising to see women in football kits made for a male shape, or worse, men's old hand-me-downs. So naturally the idea of periods was never even taken into account. However, with campaigns such as Let Girls Play coming out in force following the Euros win, it is clear that big improvements are being made to rekindle the relationship between the football industry and its publics, with a huge concentration on getting girls back in the game for good.
While arguments could be made both for and against a move like this being labelled a PR stunt, the positive impact it is likely to have on players and performances alike can definitely go down as a win in my book.
We just have to hope these positive changes continue into the future.
Chloe Rose
