"We continue to see the boxes full of men, and this must be reversed"

“One day we said enough”. Berta Arandes, president of Dones en Joc, explains the moment when a group of entrepreneurs from the world of sport decided to create an entity that would give visibility to female executives to increase their presence in decision-making spaces. “Dones en Joc is an association that was born to promote the figure of the female executive in the world of sport. We have detected a great need to network among ourselves to provide mutual support that will serve to give much-needed visibility to female executives. It seems incredible, but it continues to be very non-existent. We want to weave a network and give this visibility to female executives to generate role models in leadership positions. We have role models, but we don't have role models of female executives”, she explains to ARA.Currently, Dones en Joc is made up of 12 female executives from different federations, clubs, and sports institutions. The association is self-financed with contributions from its promoters, but the goal is to find companies to sponsor the project. For now, everything comes out of our own pockets, we don't have any external help", confesses Arandes. The scenario does not invite optimism. "Unfortunately, the situation of female executives in Catalan sport is negative, as they continue to be little visible and their work is very little or not at all recognized. We continue to see the stands full of men, and this situation must be reversed. We want to see more women in decision-making spaces. There are female executives, but they neither have visibility nor do they usually appear in the media", she assures.Their roadmap is very well structured. “Apart from the visibility we are trying to achieve and the network we are building, what we believe is very necessary is to change the structures. It is now difficult for a woman to dare to take a step forward to say that she wants to direct or lead a team, a club or a federation”, analyzes Arandes, one of the founders of the project. The other is Mònica Garcia-Solanas. Dones en Joc periodically organizes meeting spaces where women can feel represented and heard. “Just for the photo”

“A very important change would be legislative, because the managerial task must be professionalized. It cannot be that the work of a sports management falls on the personal assets of anyone. These jobs must be professionalized, because sport is still an industry like any other,” asks Arandes, who has managed to involve dozens of people in the project. “Many women are tired of only being sought out to appear in photos and avoid an image full of men. The response we are getting is very positive, and that makes me feel proud. We have not found significant differences between sports. In fact, I think we would be very surprised to know how many women are involved in sports that are considered minority, but we must change our perspective,” she says. Arandes values initiatives such as the Demana Canvi campaign of the Catalan Basketball Federation.Arandes, who currently works in the communication department of the Ministry of Sports, has a lot of experience in the sector. “When I started dedicating myself to the world of sports, I didn't have Catalan role models, because women's football at that time was not at all visible. I used to focus a lot on Mia Hamm, who is a mythical American player, or on Marta, a Brazilian icon. These two were my motivation to play football”, she concludes.