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Felicia A. Henderson

Lessons on Inclusion from ... watching women's soccer

Published about 1 year ago • 1 min read

Felicia A. Henderson

August 21, 2025

Watching Les Bleues:
An Awkward E & Solid "Respect" Armband

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Friends, colleagues, fellow equity and inclusion advocates, it's Felicia Henderson. This is my first attempt at a newsletter. They should only improve from here.

If you know me well, or even just a little, you probably know that I love le foot (soccer for Americans, football for nearly everyone else).

This summer's UEFA Women's Euro 2025 was packed with dramatic play on the field. Yet, a couple of other things grabbed my attention while watching the French national team.

The Stitched on "E"

A bit of background: French men's national teams are known as Les Bleus. The women's national teams are known by the feminine form, Les Bleues. Notice the second "e."

For the Euro 2025, one sponsor created a whole campaign to “lend” an E from its name to the French women’s team. While the intention was to highlight le foot au feminin, an implicit message of the visibly tacked-on E is that the women’s game is unusual.

In one ad, excited fans cut up a Les Bleus scarf to stitch on an E with a totally different look. Talk about jamming a woman into an environment not designed for her. You can see the scarf ad and join a conversation about "tinkering vs. transforming" at my LinkedIn post here.

Shades of "Respect"

Another bit of background for those who don’t follow le foot closely: team captains wear an armband to mark their status. In recent years, in various leagues, the captain’s armband reads “Respect” in an effort to fight hate speech and bigoted violence.

For the Euro 2025, UEFA chose to elevate the fight against homophobia with a rainbow patterned “Respect” armband. The French captains continued to wear the unicolor version. The explanations in response to press inquiries conflicted.

Was it a deliberate choice or an innocent oversight? You’ll find photos, more details, and an opportunity to reflect on allyship at my LinkedIn post here.

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Felicia A. Henderson

Strategist, Keynote Speaker, Researcher

I'm a consultant, researcher, educator, and keynote speaker who works with businesses and their leaders to design and implement transformative diversity strategies. I help global organizations identify and address the psychodynamics of resistance to equity and inclusion initiatives. My work focuses on why people resist corporate equity and inclusion initiatives and how to get them to care about and for people who are different from them. I am a 2x TEDx speaker available for keynotes, panels, and fireside chats. I also work with individual leaders and leadership teams to install reflective practices that enhance capacity for leading inclusive cultures.

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