FC Barcelona move forward with its commitment to the elimination of violence against women

FC Barcelona, with its firm commitment to the elimination of any type of violence and sexist behaviour towards women, has joined the reading of the Manifesto from the World of Sport, set out by the General Secretary of Sport and Physical Activity from the Generalitat, the Catalan regional government, carried out by sportspersons from La Masia, players from the basketball youth teams and the players from Barça CBS.  

The reading of the manifesto took place for the first time on a very special occasion, the women’s Clásico against Real Madrid, Barça Women’s first game at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, in front of 38,707 fans.  

In the build-up to the game against Real Madrid on 19 November, Emma Gálvez from the women’s C team, Noa Benito from the U14C team, Elyiott Andreas from the U16B team and Gerard Mullol from the U14A team all read the manifesto which denounced all forms of male violence towards women and calls for safe sport, free from violence and based on respect, safety, dignity, equality and freedom for all people.  

This event will be repeated on 26 November at the Palau Blaugrana before the Barça’s basketball game in the Endesa League. The reading of the manifesto will be carried out by Marc Puertas and Leo Encina, two players form the basketball U16A side and Irene Broncano and Karla Erjavec from Barça CBS.  

Just two days later, on Tuesday 28 November during half time of the Champions League game between Barça and FC Porto, Sidney Jose Só Delgado and Íker Rodríguez from the U16A team and once again Emma Gálvez from the women’s C team and Noa Benito from the U14C team will read out the contents of the manifesto to the fans in the stadium.  

FC Barcelona join the campaign “We open our eyes to male violence. Take a stand.” 

With Alexia Putellas and Sergi Roberto taking part, FC Barcelona adds its support to the institutional campaign led by the Generalitat against violence towards women “We open our eyes to male violence. Take a stand,” which aims to highlight the prevalence of such actions and how people should react if they witness it.  

In particular, the campaign urges people to take a stand in reporting any violent situation via the cry to ‘open our eyes’, represented by the campaign’s ‘taking off the blindfold.’  

Internal development ‘Equality: understand it to eradicate male violence towards women’  

On 23 November at the Club’s facilities, a training session ‘Equality: understand it to eradicate male violence towards women’ took place. The initiative from the Department of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion was led by Marta Macias, a lawyer and expert on public policy regarding gender equality.  

With the aim of finding a common space, the subject of equality between men and women in organisations was broached via a reflection of the current situation and the socialisation of gender, examining the patriarchal system and developing points such as positions of power, gender stereotypes and the difference in uses of time between genders and domestic co-responsibility.  

A firm commitment and integration into the Club’s Statutes  

In October 2021 the Club wished to incorporate into the Club’s Statutes its commitment to end violence towards women. To be more exact, in a section in article 4T which recognises the basic and fundamental principles of humans contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A test that establishes that the Club ‘will support equal rights and the dignity of people’ and to do so the Club will ‘promote the democratic rights of equality and non-discrimination', adding ‘it will work to eradicate all sexist, homophobic and racist attitudes in society and sport.’