Thiruvananthapuram: The city’s heartthrob, the fan-owned football club Travancore Royals, has launched a women’s empowerment campaign as part of its social initiatives. This new campaign is in addition to the several existing programmes that the club lends its weight to, such as the community nutrition programme and the responsible parenting campaign. The #SHEQUAL campaign aims to cultivate equality at multiple levels through coordinated efforts and awareness programmes, and it is proposed to be funded through the sale of club merchandise. A portion of the proceedings from T-shirts and jerseys of the club, bearing the hashtag #SHEQUAL, will go directly to this campaign and the varied women’s empowerment programmes it supports. The jerseys and t-shirts are moderately priced. Her Highness Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi launched the #SHEQUAL initiative by introducing the SHEQUAL T-Shirt.
The campaign aims to address the bane of gender imbalance and inequality across different fields and occupations, by bringing awareness to the larger society while also supporting women’s initiatives. In the true spirit of change beginning at home, the Travancore Royals club have also invited women fans to be part of the club management and gain part ownership of the club along with the other fans. This just another part of the larger #SHEQUAL campaign, and the club aims to bring about equal representation in all walks of life, including in its own decision-making groups. Travancore Royals is a club that focusses equally on the men’s and women’s professional teams, across different age groups, that it owns. The thrust it has given to women’s football has scaled success in the recent past, when its women’s team became only the second team from Kerala to get an opportunity to take part in the Indian Women’s League play-offs.
Over and above its glories on the football field, the club hopes to empower women in the wider society through the #SHEQUAL campaign. The campaign seeks to be an able companion to the indomitable spirit of women across different professional and other domains, a spirit which can only always soar higher with the right support and confidence. With the #SHEQUAL campaign, the Royals intend to become a pillar of support for women’s empowerment initiatives across the spectrum. All fans can contribute to the campaign by purchasing the jerseys and the t-shirts. Thus, simply by sporting a Royals jersey, you can simultaneously show your love for your favourite club and lend voice to a noble cause.
