Creating Gender Equality Allies with Teammates
Team Mates is a 10-week programme delivered in partnership with Yellow Door in Primary Schools with workshops on tackling harmful gender stereotypes and learning about positive relationships.
The project sees our Gender Equality team collaborate with our Premier League Primary Stars to deliver sessions across local Primary Schools. In 2023/24, 60% of young people who engaged with the project increased their understanding of gender stereotypes or were better able to manage their emotions.
A Designated Safeguarding Lead from one local Southampton Primary School has shared the impact of the project for their school: “Team Mates gives some of our most vulnerable pupils the ability to receive bespoke and relevant support and intervention.
“It offers young people the opportunity to think differently and more positively about subjects which will potentially shape their adulthood and future life choices.”
Usually delivered with one male and one female member of Saints Foundation staff, the programme leads open discussions which evolve depending on the needs of the group, while ensuring the key messages persist.
To end the programme, the young people are empowered to share what they have learnt over the 10 weeks in their own words, and ask them how they will take what they’ve learnt forward in life.
In their last session, young people share their biggest takeaways, like: “Everyone has rights – girls, boys, men, women, our Saints Foundation staff – we all do.”
While most the takeaways supported our key messages, L also said: “We don’t always know who we are talking to online. It could be one of our friends, an old person, or a random.”
Southampton City Council continue to support Saints Team Mates by originally funding the programme through the Safer Streets Fund in 2021. This year, the council awarded £10,000 to fund the expansion of the project to help women and girls to thrive in Southampton by supporting the creation of gender equality allies.
We look forward to continuing this important work throughout the 2025-26 season and if you would like to find out more about Saints Team Mates click here
