LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Jessica Naz of Tottenham Hotspur during the Barclays Women’s Super League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at BetWright Stadium on September 19, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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As Jess Naz revealed she was racially abused during last night’s game, a new Women in Football survey reveals her experience is typical of females working within the game.
After last night’s League Cup match against Aston Villa, the Tottenham Hotspur forward, playing on her birthday, revealed she has was the recipient of abusive messages on her social media account. In a post she said “I was going to wait till after the game to speak because I’m done being quiet. I was subjected to racial abuse in my DMs. Racism in any form is unacceptable and [it] is important to address this behaviour and ensure that steps are taken to prevent it from happening again.”
In a statement, Tottenham Hotspur said “the Club is disgusted by the racist abuse received by Jessica Naz via social media. Jess has spoken out against this disgraceful behaviour – and we stand by her in calling out this unacceptable and cowardly act. We are working with the appropriate authorities and social media platforms to identify the responsible party, and we will be taking the strongest action against them.”
In their fifth annual workforce survey, the findings of Women in Football – a professional network of around 12,000 people of all genders who support equality in the industry – revealed that 78% of females working within the game have suffered discrimination within the past year. This figure is slightly higher (81%) in women from under-represented minorities who said levels of discrimination they have witnessed online have increased or stayed the same.
The research also revealed that the level of optimism of succeeding in the industry was significantly lower in women from ethnic minorities. While over half (55%) of the female respondents believed the sector is one where women can ultimately excel, for women from under-represented ethnic origins, this drops to 29%.
Significantly, over a third of Women in Football members (36%) chose not to report cases of abuse or discrimination as they did not think anything would be done about it. 34% of those did not report it as they did not trust the process, 26.9% worried that reporting discrimination would affect their career. Over 56% said no action was taken after reporting genderbased discrimination in the workplace.
These figures, they claim, represent institutional barriers which create systemic exclusion for women in the workplace. Most of the respondents claimed it was only down to their own determination and resilience that they made any sort of progress in the industry. 86% of women believed that they have to work harder than men to achieve the same recognition and benefits. 69% of men agree with them.
In the summer, Gotham FC defender Jess Carter confessed she went into the UEFA Women’s Euro final almost scared to play after being the subject of “violently aggressive racism” on social media. She also said she was relieved when some of England’s white players joined Lauren James in missing penalties during their UEFA Women’s Euro quarter-final victory over Sweden.
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – JULY 27: Lauren James, Jessica Carter, Michelle Agyemang and Khiara Keating of England pose for a photo with their Winners Medals following victory in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 Final match between England and Spain at St. Jakob-Park on July 27, 2025 in Basel, Switzerland. (Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images)
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Speaking to ITV News, Carter admitted “it’s horrible to say, but it’s almost like a sigh of relief when other players that weren’t black missed a penalty, because the racism that would have come with LJ (Lauren James) being the only one that missed would have been astronomical.”
Women in Football has established its own Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisory Group which met for the first time this month. They are also advocates of evolving United Kingdom legislation such as the Online Safety
Act and Employment Rights Bill and are advising the government, Parliament and Ofcom to that effect.
“The headline data from the 2025 survey remains relatively static, and in many areas, bleak,” said Yvonne Harrison, the CEO of Women In Football. “They are not just numbers, they are the lived experiences of people working in the game, and they deserve better.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 29: Yvonne Harrison attends the Wimena – Women in Sport Conference London 2025 at Chelsea Football Club on May 29, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Wimena Limited)
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“If the industry is to change, we need to recognise these hard truths. We can safely assume that the real levels of discrimination are even higher, with a third of female respondents stating they had not reported incidents due to a lack of faith and trust in workforce processes, or for a fear of retribution.”
“We cannot keep relying on the resilience of women. We need women to be supported, valued, and recognised. These are not questions of cost. It is a question of culture, and a commitment to ensuring psychological safety.”
The survey data was analysed by Upshot, a fully registered community interest company. 867 (759 women, 100 men and 8 non-binary) people responded to the survey, 12% of respondents are from under-represented ethnic groups.
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