International Women's Day Celebrated At Community Event
- Leicester City in the Community host International Women’s Day event
- Children from partner primary schools attended at King Power Stadium
- LCFC Women midfielder Connie Scofield made a guest appearance
- Team GB athlete Stephanie Buckley also talked about her career
A total of 32 girls from four partner primary schools located across the region were in attendance inside the Community Hub on Filbert Way, marking the first major Premier League Primary Stars event that the Club’s charitable arm have been able to host since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
For Scofield, who signed for the Foxes last summer, it was a great experience to be out in the local community for the first time.
“It’s so lovely,” the midfielder told LCFC TV. “Especially after the pandemic when everything was closed, to be with all the school children and getting to know them and just be here at Leicester, at the stadium, it’s a really great experience for everybody.”
The 22-year-old sat down for a Q&A about her career and the importance of the day, before joining the children in creating positive pouches for their female role model.
“Hopefully they’ll take something from the day and have had a good time,” she added. “Maybe they’ll get into football, or even it just shows them what they can achieve in the future.”
The pupils then took part in a series of ‘Women in the Workplace’ workshops, which included ex-Team GB athlete Stephanie Buckley, who talked about her journey to the pinnacle of athletics.
Buckley commented: “I think it’s so important for them to remember that in life you will be given lots of challenges and it will throw things at you, but you can overcome them. It’s quite nice for me to talk about injuries and things that I’ve overcome through my career.
“If you keep going, everyone is on their own path. I’ve found it very inspiring to speak to the girls and go around and listen to their stories. They’ve also been an inspiration to me.”
Activities were also based around ‘Women in the Media’, ‘Tackling Sexism in Football’ and ‘Women in STEM’, including a representative from the National Space Centre in Leicester, as explained by Leicester in the Community's Education Manager, Emma Lowry.
She said: “I think today is really about raising awareness so that a lot of the pupils can learn about different careers and also know that they can achieve anything and really seeing that in person by taking part in the workshops today.
“It’s great to be able to have Connie here. She gave some really inspirational messages and took part in lots of the activities, so it’s been really inspiring for the girls to have a player here to answer questions and talk about her career.”
International Women's Day Event Held In Community Hub On Filbert Way
Leicester City in the Community welcomed school children from across the region to King Power Stadium to speak to LCFC Women midfielder Connie Scofield and Team GB athlete Stephanie Buckley about female representation in sport.
Ten-year-old Maisy, from Shaftesbury Junior School, talked through her different experiences from the morning’s activities.
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot,” she commented. “We’ve had a lot of guests and it’s been really fun. With the lady from the Space Centre, we were doing experiments on how the suits are made. I like being creative and cooking and making stuff, so it’s been really nice.
“Meeting Connie was fun. She sat down and helped us make these positive bags to give to someone. [With Stephanie] we were doing all different jumps.”
Held annually on 8 March, International Women’s Day commemorates the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women. Working around this year’s theme of #BreakTheBias, Scofield and Buckley were able to share their experiences as females in sport, spreading the message of gender equality to promote a better society.
“Sometimes I think sport is quite a male dominated industry,” the high jumper admitted. “So to show that women can also go up there and achieve just as much, I think is so important.
“Getting more female coaches as well, girls can gravitate more to a female coach. Just making sure that not only do they have role models but then after that, inspiring the next generation with the coaching side as well.”
Scofield agrees with the sentiment: “When I was growing up, I was maybe more inclined to have male football role models. But now I think the women’s game is so big that these kids can choose from so many to inspire them.”
More information about International Women’s Day can be found HERE.