“With the pre-merger and transition, it didn’t take that much time, but the post-merger will take time, especially if we want an association that’s underpinned by equality. That was an eye-opener for us, and we realised we probably can’t put a time frame on it as much as we would like. But from the post-merger point of view, we learned we have to have principles to be guided by, equality being the main one.
“What the research has really shown is that for an association to be underpinned by equality, and probably to function better, it’s a case of not necessarily a merger and integration; it was actually the formation of a new organisation.
The US Soccer Federation’s equal pay ruling, for example, was not simply about women taking from the men’s earnings; it also assessed strategies and ideas that were previously only options for women could be beneficial in the men’s collective bargaining agreement, such as fertility, healthcare and childcare.