Women’s sport is enjoying unprecedented fan growth. From record-breaking Women’s World Cup audiences to sell-out stadiums in football, cricket and rugby, it’s clear the cultural momentum is here. But is brand investment keeping up with that demand?

We’ve seen big strides forward in bridging the gender gap in terms of participation, grassroots investment, spectatorship and visibility, but there is a lot more work to do brand investment-wise.

Considering the opening fixtures of this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup attracted 4.6 million viewers on the BBC, beating the 3.7 million total for the entirety of the last world cup in New Zealand three years ago, there’s no time like the present for brands to invest more heavily in women’s sport. 

Yet long-standing cultural stereotypes and structural barriers continue to limit opportunities. We hear it all the time – women’s sport isn’t as exciting to watch; men are stronger and faster – the list goes on. Take Wales international Georgia Evans who has been criticised online for her makeup and appearance when she faced Canada in the Rugby World Cup this week. Players like Georgia who have worked hard to play at the top of their game are constantly having to justify their ability due to outdated stereotypes of what a rugby player “should” look like, which undermines talent. We need to see more brands challenging this – like Mastercard, who have taken a grassroots approach to breaking the ‘girls shouldn’t play rugby’ stereotype with their “Give Rugby a Try” campaign, offering free beginner clinics for girls, hosted by former professional rugby players Maggie Alphonsi and Shaunagh Brown at pop-up store, Style of Our Own, on Regent Street in London.

This is promising to see, but it’s a drop in the water, as sponsorship deals and brand activations are still disproportionately low compared to men’s sport, and this hesitation to invest in women’s sport feeds into a historical misogyny that rings true today.

Looking at the Women’s Rugby World Cup taking place now, the opportunity is huge. The tournament is no doubt raising the profile of the women’s game and funding from the likes of The National Lottery has been essential, with £6billion of funding invested into grassroots sport over the past 30 years, which has helped support 90,000 grassroots sports projects.

By expanding the group stage matches to the north of England too, in locations including Sunderland, Salford and York, it has highlighted a huge demand that brands and sponsors have historically missed out on. The last Women’s World Cup in England in 2010 only took place in the south, predominantly in the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford, meaning only a small part of the UK could experience the tournament’s atmosphere and excitement. In total, more than 88,000 supporters, many of which are young women with families and large groups, have attended the seven games in the three northern venues so far. It’s everything around the matches – including the food and entertainment – that create a real buzz for the sport, which is where brands need to step in.

Creating inspiring occasions on and off the field for young girls and women who love the sport is vital, and it’s more important than ever for brands to rethink the playbook and invest in innovative activations that are culturally, regionally and ethnically representative, to ensure they’re not neglecting pockets of undervalued fans. We need to see more brands investing in activations, skills workshops, opportunities to meet and greet the players, music, bars and food pop ups, on a nationwide scale.

Rather than defaulting to men’s-sport-style sponsorship models, brands and sponsors need to listen to the ever-growing women’s sport fanbase and invest in the demand both faster, and smarter. The upside is now bigger than ever, and long-term brand value is key. Brands that commit now have the time to position themselves as authentic allies, securing loyalty from a rapidly growing fanbase.

The old perception that women’s sport is a riskier investment no longer holds and unless brand investment catches up quickly, brands not only risk losing out on significant periods of cultural relevance and consumer loyalty, but also risk perpetuating the gender imbalance in sport further.