During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the football world was going to talk about nothing but, well, men. That’s when three women stepped into this male-dominated field, and started a new era for women in sport. Stephanie Frappart, Yamashita Yoshimi, and Salima Mukansanga were the first-ever female referees to be appointed for a men’s FIFA World Cup.

Together with M.A.L.I., we thought to use this unparalleled achievement to hijack the 2022 World Cup conversation with the campaign “Refs for Change” launched on the occasion of the 16 Days of Activism against Sex-Based Violence. Our idea enabled female referees to go beyond football itself and become messengers of change across the world. Every time one of them blew the whistle during a 2022 World Cup match, M.A.L.I. tweeted in real time to highlight the achievements of women who pioneered and succeeded in other male-dominated fields.

A referee’s most powerful tool is the whistle. It recognizes goals, offsides, red and yellow cards, fouls, penalties, corners and makes the world’s biggest stars stop in their tracks or run again to score and shine. It can keep entire nations on the edge of their seats, sending shockwaves down the stadium benches, TV channels and living rooms of countries across the world. Yet, while this whistle holds immense power on the field, there’s another kind of whistle that is used by women off the field for an even more impactful purpose. A whistle that is largely unknown and that we wish we didn’t need: The symbolic “feminist whistle” used by women to draw attention to themselves in case of an imminent threat from sexual predators.

Transforming female referees and their whistles into messengers of change is a powerful way to shine a spotlight on striking statistics that would otherwise remain in the shadows.

This idea was awarded with Gold in the Social & Influencer Stars category at the 2023 MAD STARS awards and another Gold at the Dubai Lynx Festival of Creativity 2024 – also in the Social Influencer category.