Levelling the Playing Field 100 Women

Now on BBC News, the 100 Women team

travel to Brazil to tackle sexism in

sport.

We're challenging teams of women

in four cities around the world to

tackle everyday problems

that blight their lives.

In the workplace.

You need a working

prototype by tomorrow

morning.

In education.

Emojis not showing

up in the overlay.

On public transport.

There's only, I don't know,

50 more to do or something.

And on the sports field.

Using BBC outlets, the teams can

appeal for help from

around the world.

They have just one week to find

a modern solution to a

long-standing issue.

Welcome to the BBC's

100 Women challenge.

Rio de Janeiro is

a city famed for its

passion for sport.

It was home to the 2016

Olympic and Paralympic

games.

And hosted the most recent

football World Cup in 2014.

The beautiful game

is adored by millions

here but has an ugly past.

For almost 40 years,

women were banned

from playing football in Brazil.

Though the ban is now listed,

its legacy lives on.

It's a real struggle

for Brazilian women to be

taken seriously in football.

The 100 women challenge

has come to reopen

to try to tackle sexism in sport.

And find solutions to level

the playing field, inspiring women

here in Brazil and around the world.

Taking up the challenge are five

women who have just five days to

come up with ideas to help improve

the situation for female

footballers.

Time for some introductions.

Bia Vaz from Sao Paulo

has played for the

Brazilian National women's

squad and professionally

in the United States.

Fernanda is a rower and competed

in her home city of Rio

in the Olympic Games

last year.

This woman grew up in one of Rio's

favelas, dreaming of playing

football.

Now she's a coach for other

children growing up in

poverty.

Maira from Sao Paulo is director

of the women in sports

programme for the campaign

group Think Olga.

And finally, two time

Olympic Beach Volleyball

silver medallist Adriana from Rio

is now on the Brazilian Olympic

Committee, part of her role

is to keep women in sport.

Our experts must reveal

their solutions to

sexism in sport at a mixed gender

football match at the end of the

week.

It'll be a seven aside game

and at least three of the players on

each side must be female.

The squad playing on

behalf of the 100 Women

is made up of talented young

Brazilian footballers who are

meeting for the first time today.

It's also hoped these young players

can offer some inspiration to our

challenge team.

Even at just 12 and 13 years of age,

Ana and Luiza have already

encountered a lot of resistance

to their love of the game.

With Ana and Luiza

as their inspiration, the

women start making plans

for the week ahead.

Leading up to the game on Saturday.

Maira and Bia also take some time

to reflect on the first day.

The team is made up of high

achievers, but none of them has ever

taken on a challenge of this

scale in just a week.

It's going to be an

interesting few days.

We've had a really early

start and just drove an

hour and a half to reach the school

in the West zone of Rio, we're going

to see a very unique experience

promoting gender equality in sport.

Korfball.

Korfball was invented just over

100 years ago in the

Netherlands so that men

and women could play

alongside each other

on

the same team.

School PE teacher Shayla

is a big fan of the sport

because the sexes can

compete on equal terms.

Although watching the Korfball

is useful, neither of these

women are spectators

in life, and they are

itching to get stuck in.

School is over for Bia and Maira,

they are now off to university

collecting Ana and Louisa

along the way.

Arriving at Rio's Pontifico Catholic

University, Luiza and Ana

head off for training,

with the university's women's team.

Helena has agreed to become the team

super coach, we'll update on the

challenge and solutions they are

coming up with to address sexism in

sport. Meanwhile, Ana and Luiza have

a new recruit. 13-year-old Maria

will join them for Saturday's game

and together they are meeting the

university team captain, Nicole.

With some great advice for our young

players...

it's time to see if coach Helena has

been equally inspiring, as our

team thinks about ideas to beat

sexism in the sport.

The women also came up

with an idea for an Internet

channel for female players

by female players.

So the women have

three solid solutions.

Now they just have to make

everything happen in three

days in time for Saturday's match.

A new day and it's time to start

turning ideas into reality.

The experts want to

raise awareness of

women's football through some

empowering messages.

They've decided to have

slogans printed on shirts

for Saturday's game.

The new shirt will become

the 100 women team kit

for the match in two days.

The girls' shirts say

"I play like a girl".

The boys should ask

"I play with them,

what about you?

" And even the parents

get a shared with the

message, my girl plays

football with pride.

Good job, good job.

The young players taking

part in Saturday's

game come from all over Rio.

And it's time to get

them back together

for one last training session

before the final match.

We've brought them to

Rio's Temple of Dreams.

This is the Maracana Stadium.

Two football World Cups

have been played here.

To train on the pitch at this

world-famous football ground is

beyond the imagination

of most aspiring players.

It's lights, camera

action for the team's

Internet tutorials.

It's lights, camera

action for the team's

Internet tutorials.

As the filming of the

tutorials continues, a new

face appears.

13-year-old MC Soffia is unfamiliar

ground at the Maracana.

This talented rapper

performed here during

the opening ceremony

of last

year's Olympics.

She's come to meet our team

and get inspired to write a

special football anthem

for the final match on Saturday.

With her performance

at the match just two

days away, MC Soffia uses the iconic

stadium as her rehearsal venue.

The Maracana has played host to some

exceptional site over the decades.

I hope this visit by

the 100 women challenge

will make its way into

the

stadium's history books, too.

There's just one day

to go until the mixed

gender football match.

The players are resting up

ahead of their game.

Overnight, our BBC crew edited

the video tutorials and it's

time to reveal them to the experts.

The YouTube channel is beginning

to take shape, but it needs to be

finished by tomorrow morning

so they can share it

with the young players.

It's a last day of the final 100

Women challenge of 2017.

All week the women have

been working on new

rules to make a mixed gender

football match fair for females.

To get some inspiration,

two of the team, Maira

and Bia went to see

a

Korfball game where both sexes play

alongside each other.

When they were there,

they've recruited the

school's PE teacher, Sheila,

to referee today's match.

The other experts

are showing off their

completed YouTube

channels to the players.

With the new rules in place, it's

time to hand out the kit. The 100

women team are in orange.

The 100 Women team are playing

against a mixed gender team from the

American School of Rio. The school's

players train together regularly but

because there is no mixed gender

league, they've never played

together in a competition before.

It's a great game so far, very

competitive. The 100 Women team is a

little bit behind but everyone is

giving it their best.

At half-time there are pep talks

from parents. And words of wisdom

from the coaches. Before the whistle

for the second half blows again.

The match has just finished. The 100

Women team lost. It was 9-3 for the

other team. The girls are a bit

upset but they played really, really

well. Maria, how do you feel, how

did you like the game?

Despite her disappointment, Maria's

talent hasn't gone unnoticed.

All this week there has been a team

behind the team, every step of the

way our girl players have been

supported by their family members.

Luiza's mother is confident about

her daughter's future, but what

about the player herself? How has

this week left her feeling?

Though the 100 Women football team

didn't win the match, they are

claiming victory for the week

itself. The messages the women

wanted to convey came across loud

and clear and the Internet channel

is a lasting legacy of the

challenge.

I hope and I wish that

maybe in the next years we can see

more and more girls playing soccer.

After a very inspiring week,

everyone has gathered for MC Soffia

to play the wrap she made especially

for this occasion.