Female Athletes Receive Only 4% of Sports Media Coverage—Adidas Wants to Change That

"To give female athletes more leverage—and to give girls in sports more role models—a woman-led team at Adidas launched a global initiative called She Breaks Barriers. The campaign aims to provide better access to sports for women and girls, remove gender stereotypes, and create greater visibility for female athletes at all levels.

Step one: Create real, tangible change—not just #empowering ads. In January, Adidas hosted a workshop at the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University to pinpoint barriers preventing women from getting into sports and brainstorm how to overcome them. In March the brand hosted town halls in New York and Los Angeles to address a lack of mentoring and safe transportation for girls in sports. They’ve also partnered with Girls on the Run to provide gear and sponsor 5K runs; with Starlings Volleyball to sponsor to summer volleyball camps; and with Jen Welter (the first female coach in the NFL) to create the first women’s football cleats."