- This year’s International Women’s Day theme is 'Accelerate Action', emphasising the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality
- FIFPRO Women’s World 11 goalkeeper Mary Earps explains what the theme means to her
- Paris Saint-Germain and England stopper talks about the importance of improving the game for future generations and the importance of "staying true" on the pathway to the top
Saturday 8 March marks the UN’s International Women’s Day, a celebration of women’s achievements while calling for positive change in advancing the collective interests of women.
This year’s theme is 'Accelerate Action', emphasising the importance of taking swift and decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.
Paris Saint-Germain and England goalkeeper Mary Earps, a two-time FIFPRO Women’s World 11 winner, describes what 'Accelerate Action' means to her.
"Accelerating Action is an interesting theme," Earps told FIFPRO. "Sometimes from a player's point of view, maybe you want to work on something, you don't know where to start, and it's important to make a decision and go for it.
"In terms of people being involved in women's football and pushing the women's game forward, I think it's exactly that: take action, support, be behind it.
"There are so many different ways that people can support. Women's sport and women's football across the world is a train that's moving quickly, but there's plenty of space for everybody to get on board.
"If we continue to push the game forward in the right way, investing in the right areas, we keep improving the quality of the product, then I think that it's going to go to even higher heights than it already is now.
"If we’re improving the conditions for the future generation, then we’re making an even better game for people to come and watch."
'Everybody's journey is different'
Earps, 31, has been at the top of her game in the last few years. The stopper has been an influential figure between the sticks for her country especially, helping England to UEFA EURO glory in 2022 and the country’s first Women’s World Cup final in 2023.
Her path to the top, however, was not instant; while Earps is reaping the rewards of her hard work now, her journey to the summit of international football began with years of semi-professional football in England at clubs such as Nottingham Forest, Doncaster Rovers Belles, Coventry City, Birmingham City, Bristol Academy and Reading, before joining VfL Wolfsburg as the club’s second choice goalkeeper in 2018.
A move to Manchester United in 2019 saw Earps really display her quality, with England manager Sarina Wiegman eventually selecting her as England’s first-team goalkeeper in 2021.
"My biggest learning is that everybody's journey looks very different," Earps asserted. "It’s important you stay true to who you are and follow your own path because sometimes in a world where there's social media, you're always comparing your life to other people, and it's easy to think you're not good enough or you're not doing things fast enough, or you should have success by now in different ways.
"So, stay focused, stay grounded, work hard, and know that if you stay true to who you are, you'll end up somewhere pretty great."
