This year's International Women's Day campaign, Break the Bias, imagines a gender equal world free of stereotypes and discrimination.

As Head of Women's Football, Jess Burger is uniquely placed to comment on biases in professional sport, having worked across both the men's and women's football programs during her six years at the club.

She started her career at Collingwood in 2016 ahead of the inaugural NAB AFLW season and played a key role in the development of the women's program, which led to her appointment as the AFLW List Manager in 2018.

Burger was a participant of the AFL's Women in Leadership Program in 2019 and joined the AFL Women's Competition Committee in 2021. She was promoted to Head of Women's Football last year.

Burgs offered some incredible insight about some of the steps being taken in the sports industry to promote gender equality.

This year’s IWD campaign is Break the Bias – where do you see biases or inequality in women’s sport?

As unusual as it sounds, the age-old cliche of the chicken and the egg I believe is quite an appropriate representation of the causality dilemma for the biases or inequality in women’s sport.

Do the biases or inequalities stem from the chicken? The chicken a metaphor for the historical lack of exposure to the expertise required for some traditionally male dominated sporting codes and the personnel bias for roles in these sports.

Or do biases stem from the egg? The egg illustrating the barriers that women may face such as pay disparity, underrepresentation, appropriate physical infrastructure to support diversity and or safe environments.

The question likely still remains, have we addressed some of the issues that face the egg or do we need to continue to shift the views of the chicken? And what came first!

How do we break these biases at an individual level and industry level?

There is no single response to how we break these biases both at an individual and industry level. However a number of fast tracking initiatives coupled with a growth mindset has certainly seen Women’s Sport progress quicker compared to other sectors facing gender inequality or bias.

Contributing factors such as having widely exposed and celebrated female role models allows the next generation to be inspired to do what they can see.

The notion of quotas has been controversial at times but has been a strategy adopted within sports to promote this role modelling and in turn breaking the bias.

Additionally appointing diverse individuals in roles that historically haven’t filled that role can shift stereotypical, cultural, and environmental biases.

However this at times has been reported to compromise the self-worth of individuals appointed in quotas with the sense the role was given on the basis of gender representation rather than skill or qualification.

I continue to be a believer in appointing the best person for the job but ensuring that first, equal opportunity is given to achieve the role. 

Where did your passion for football begin and how did you get your start in the industry?

My passion for football began from a young age with the camaraderie, competitiveness and shared experience proving to be the catalyst for my football journey to start.

Tell us about your journey at Collingwood.

I have had an extremely well supported and fulfilling experience at Collingwood. The Club has consistently opened doors for me and broken down barriers in order to allow me to develop and contribute to the organisation as a whole.

I begun as a performance analyst intern working with the coaches around strategy, opposition and how the game was being played.

Following on from this the Club gave me a start in the Men’s program and as the game and industry evolved I was able to transfer some of this knowledge across in the inaugural AFLW season.

I am fortunate to be supported juggling both the men’s and women’s football programs, which has fast-tracked my knowledge, experiences, relationships and opportunities.

My journey has been a ‘right place at the right time’ series of events, but it’s also been one of taking risks and being afforded opportunity that has allowed me to now continue to grow as both the Forwards analyst in the AFL and Head of Women’s Football in the AFLW. 

Do you feel a responsibility to “break the bias” as a woman in a male dominated industry?

I believe the responsibility lies with each and every individual regardless of the gender balance within the industry.

The AFL should no longer be regarded as a male dominated industry and a language shift is the first step to breaking down the bias. It is the responsibility of all, irrelevant of gender to support opportunity and embrace diversity.