Sarries show support for International Women's Day 2024
Today is International Women's Day, a day on which we honour the accomplishments of women and work to advance gender equality globally.
From World Cups, to record crowds and huge viewing figures, it has been an unbelievable year for Women's Sport.
Zoe Harrison Discusses Her Rugby Journey:
Sport is a fantastic way to encourage social participation and collaboration across the world and it provides opportunities to learn important life skills such as teamwork, leadership and confidence.
Since 2013 there has been a 60% increase in female participation, with female players now making up a quarter of international rugby participants. As women's sport continues to make fantastic advances, it is important that as a club we recognise and champion the work that can be done to continue to make a difference.
For our fly-half Zoe Harrison, young girls being able to see female rugby players and knowing that they have someone to look up to and aspire to be like is hugely important.
You can watch the full video here.
Marlie Packer | Women's World Player of the Year:
We've got some inspirational women throughout the Sarries family. Our co-captain and England captain Marlie Packer is one of those. She sat down to tell us what being named World Player of the Year meant to her and how she aims to inspire the next generation.
Saracens Foundation:
The Saracens Foundation are instrumental in contributing to the empowerment of women and girls, with their various female focused community projects.
Their goal is to 'transform the landscape of female sport by addressing gender inequalities'. Here are just some of the ways they are contributing to this:
The Empower Her Project:
This fantastic project aims to inspire the next generation of women within leadership through a mentoring scheme. The programme pairs inspiring elite female athletes from both our Saracens Women's Rugby and Saracens Mavericks Netball teams with young women from across our community sports clubs.
Through hosting workshops with a variety of high-profile female leaders from sport and business, they are able to share their stories and inspire the future generation of female leaders.
Girls Resilience Programme:
A 5-week Girls Resilience Programme hosted online by the Foundation, in partnership with Saracens Women's Rugby. This is an accredited learning course for girls aged 13 to 18 years old. The purpose of the programme is to teach resilience skills which, in turn, aims to support girls when dealing with challenging situations and teaches them how to become effective decision makers.
The topics covered within the programme focus on staying connected (communication), thinking differently (problem solving), raising resilience (self-belief), supporting others (teamwork) and positive action (self-management).
The participants receive a certificate on completion of the course and each session they welcome a special guest from Saracens to discuss their life experiences and journeys within sport.
Saracens Mavericks:
Our Saracens Mavericks run a variety of amazing projects to support girls within the community.
Through their netball camps, player masterclasses and community day events they are providing ample opportunities for girls to get involved in sport.
Click the link here to take a look at their upcoming events.
Saracens Men's Team:
It is crucial for the growth of Women's sport that they receive the same level of support as the Men's teams and at Saracens, our Men's team play an important role in showing that support. We may be three teams, but we are one club.
Speaking as part of the 35th anniversary celebrations for Saracens Women, Amy Garnett, former England international and Saracens Women's captain and hooker commented:
"I remember when the current senior players in the Men's squad were all coming through in the academy. Sometimes, they'd be finishing training when we were going onto the pitch, but people like Jamie George would always ask us how we were getting on, or stay and do some throwing with us front-rowers in the Women's team. It's no surprise to see where he is now and how he conducts himself, when he was doing that as a teenager. It's a small thing but it meant a lot to us as a group."
Saracens Men's player Rotimi Segun is one of a number of players in the men's squad who have attended women's fixtures this season at StoneX Stadium and he believes that the integration between the men's and women's rugby teams is a crucial way of inspiring inclusion.
"It's always great to go and watch whenever we can. The way we're integrating more around the training ground together is so positive and the support we have for each other is really great to see."
