This International Women's Day, we are hearing from fans, community participants and inspiring women working in football to see how the Premier League and our clubs are working to promote gender equality in the game.
Crystal Palace
Four years ago Lauren Sinclair left sixth form determined to follow her dream of becoming a chef, but never imagined she would be creating dishes for players at her local club Crystal Palace.
"I did all my training here," Lauren tells the official club website. "I did one day at college and the rest of the week at the stadium doing catering, private catering, matchdays and learned my skills and experience from there."
Having completed her apprenticeship Lauren was offered a full-time job at the club and is now based at the training ground in a new role as Demi Chef De Partie to the first team.
"At first before I met anyone and just came here it was really intimidating. Wow! I'm one of the only women here!" she says. "But the boys are all friendly, caring, protective… they're very friendly, well-mannered, nice people. Always grateful and appreciative."
While Lauren's culinary skills continue to develop on the job, she has also learned more about nutrition and adapts her meals and serving portions depending on each player, or time of the week.
"What some of the players eat in a couple of days would feed me for the week!" says Lauren. "You've got to make sure they're eating correctly, not over-eating, eating the right amounts, get their greens, carbs. The day before a match they need a lot of carbs, so pasta portions are much bigger than normal."
Having interaction on a daily basis with Premier League stars such as Wilfried Zaha and Cheikhou Kouyate plus head coach Patrick Vieira has helped Lauren's personal development too.
"Speaking to the players every day gave me the confidence to speak to people, whereas before I kind of didn't have to interact with the people I'm serving or making the food for. Now it's face to face every day."
Also in this series
Part 1: Brighton giving Lexi the chance to realise football dreams
Part 2: Women of Watford breaking down barriers for female fans
Part 3: 'Football can influence society and break the gender bias'
Part 4: How Mariela became Norwich's scouting pioneer
