In a groundbreaking move within European football, AC Milan has unveiled a revolutionary maternity policy for its female players and staff, marking a significant step towards gender equality in sports.
This pioneering initiative guarantees automatic contract renewals for female players who become pregnant during the final season of their contracts.
Also, it provides extensive support during pregnancy and early motherhood, setting a new standard in the industry.
This was contained in an August 2 statement, obtained from the club’s website.
It was titled, “AC Milan Introduces Maternity Policy For Female Players And Staff.”
The 2017 FIFPRO Global Employment Report revealed that only two per cent of female football players globally have children, and 47 per cent would consider leaving football to start a family.
AC Milan’s new policy directly addresses these concerns, aiming to create a supportive environment that encourages women to pursue both their professional and personal goals.
The statement read, “In what is a first among the élite clubs of European football, AC Milan presents an innovative maternity policy for its female players and staff, formally ensuring a series of protections during pregnancy and early childhood that go beyond current regulations.
“According to the 2017 FIFPRO Global Employment Report, a global study on working conditions in women’s football, only 2% of female players interviewed across four continents had children, and 47% said they would leave football to start a family.”
Giorgio Furlani, CEO of AC Milan, stated, “We are proud to present such an important project, which once again demonstrates AC Milan’s attention towards relevant matters for all the people of the Rossoneri family.
“We want this new step to be a further motivation for growth and development for the entire Club, becoming a model to follow, at a national and international level, ensuring that the world of football increasingly becomes an environment where everyone can feel free to make important personal decisions.”
According Online reports that notable issues affecting female sports include limited support for pregnancy and motherhood, gender pay gaps, and insufficient resources and infrastructure compared to male counterparts.
According to the statement, the club aims to create an inclusive environment that supports both professional and personal growth, setting a new standard in the industry.
“With this policy, AC Milan aims to support female players and professionals making up the technical staff during their development journey, not just in their professional growth, by creating an environment that enables them to make significant life choices. In addition to the protections already provided by current legislation, the Club will also guarantee:
“Automatic contract renewal with a one-year extension on the same economic terms for players if their contract is due to expire during the season in which the pregnancy started
“Assistance with childcare during sports activities and support for flights, accommodation, and other travel expenses for the children of the player who carried the pregnancy or is the sole guardian, plus one companion.
“Rossonere players will also continue to benefit from protections related to pregnancy, mandatory remuneration, and return to activity as stipulated by current rules, especially FIFA guidelines, AIC collective agreements, and the Club’s internal regulations. AC Milan also provides its players with professionals from the psycho-pedagogical, physiotherapy, and nutritional areas and reserves the right to involve external experts as needed.”
Head of Women Football at AC Milan, Elisabet Spina, added, “The Club has always shown great attention to the well-being of its female players and staff members, both professionally and personally.
“For example, we were the first Italian Club to contribute social security benefits to our players, well before the introduction of professionalism. We further demonstrated it through the #WeAllAreFootball manifesto to mitigate gender conflict, which led to the definition of principles, initiatives, and concrete interventions on the Club’s infrastructure.
“We are now about to start a new season in which we will work to achieve important goals, both on and off the field: we are excited to approach it by introducing our innovative policy.”
To define its policy, AC Milan involved the players from its First Team and Primavera Team in a process guided by the Club’s psycho-pedagogical Area, through meetings, interviews, and surveys.
According Online reported that Denmark’s male footballers refused a salary increase for playing for the national side to gain their female counterparts equal basic pay, the players’ union in June.
In 2019, Australia’s professional female footballers secured a landmark pay rise that saw them receive the same minimum wage as their male counterparts in a win for gender equality.
England men’s and women’s senior players have been paid the same match fee for representing their country since January 2020, the Football Association confirmed.
Brazil also joined Australia, Norway and New Zealand on the list of football associations who had publicly committed to paying their men and women players the same amount for earning a senior cap.
Meanwhile, in the same year, a federal judge dismissed the United States women’s soccer team’s bid for equal pay on Friday, rejecting claims the players had been underpaid in a crushing defeat for the reigning world champions.
In a 32-page ruling, Judge Gary Klausner of the US District Court for Central California in Los Angeles tossed the women’s claim of pay discrimination, ruling in favour of the United States Soccer Federation.
Klausner did allow the women’s case for unfair treatment in areas such as travel, housing and medical support to proceed to trial, set for June 16 in Los Angeles.
But the judge said the equal pay claims – the central plank of the case – had been dismissed because there was evidence the women had turned down an offer to be paid along the lines of the US men’s team.
