FeminisminFIFA

Disgraced ex-president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, being showered with fake money at a press conference in 2015.

FIFA, or the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, was established in 1904 to unify soccer as a global game under one set of rules and regulations. Feminism is defined as both the theory of gender equality and the efforts of furthering such equality. Since FIFA is the global governing body of the sport, their example sets the standards for all feminist activities in soccer. FIFA has been largely failing in their duties to advance gender equality for female soccer players.

Although FIFA has a history of male soccer spanning more than a century, the women’s game has only been a part of FIFA for a little over two decades. This history has been shaped and characterized by a pattern of misogynist and sexist behavior. This is revealed through FIFA’s unequal policies between the men and women. Specifically, the differences in their wage and funding allocations and the standard of play regulations. Furthermore, FIFA’s own media representations of their female players have been consistently degrading and chauvinistic. This oppressive history, however, creates opportunity for female athletes to work with feminists, and vice versa, to further their shared goals of equality.

Background

The first FIFA Women’s World Cup took place in 1991, exactly 60 years after the inaugural men’s competition. During this tournament, the foundation was set for differential treatment of female and male players, as the women played 80-minute games in comparison to the 90-minute matches of the men’s tournament. There was extremely low coverage of this premier event and even though attendance had doubled by the 1999 Women’s World Cup, media and advertisement efforts by FIFA were almost nonexistent .

Jumping to the last Women’s World Cup of 2015, hosted here in Canada, the women were becoming hard to ignore for the male-dominated FIFA organization. The potential for women’s soccer had grown substantially and far beyond what was anticipated. For example, the 2015 final match had the highest number of viewers for any soccer game televised in the United States. Furthermore, attendance to the 2015 tournament Women’s World Cup in Canada was more than three times higher than the attendance of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi .

Unfortunately, this clear increase in popularity and global appeal has not been coupled by an increase in women’s rights within FIFA. The age old governing body of soccer has been a “boy’s club” since its inception, leaving little, if any, room for women in positions of power. The first female official appointed to FIFA’s executive committee, compromised of 209 officials, was not elected until 2013; and still today the committee only sits three women . FIFA’s brief history of female soccer has been mired by a lack of consideration, appreciation and overall belief in the women’s potential.

Debates

There are many current debates over women’s rights in the soccer world. The current most heated topics revolve around two fundamental inequalities that greatly impact both the players and the sport. The issues in contention are similar to those that all women face in the workplace: the pay gap and differential treatment based on gender.

Pay Gap

Soccer is a global sport and naturally with such universal appeal there are profits to be made, however these profits are not equally distributed by FIFA. There are two major outlets in which the governing body allocates money to the members of the organization; earned winnings and development funds.

Winnings

Countries competing in the FIFA World Cup automatically earn money from FIFA. The sums they receive are based on what position they finish in the tournament, but the real difference in sum is based on gender. The total payout for the Women’s World Cup in 2015 was $15 million whereas the men’s World Cup of 2014 had a pool of $576 million to be awarded. The most recent Women’s World Cup winners, the US national team, took home 4 times less than their male compatriots that were eliminated in the first round of the 2014 men’s tournament . When directly comparing the winnings given to the champions of each most recent tournament, where the women won $2 million and the men won $35 million, this puts female wages at six cents to the male dollar.

Investment

FIFA also appropriates money to member nations for investment into their domestic soccer programs. This is one of the central pillars of FIFA, to build the game for the future, it is easy to see that the future is male dominated in FIFA’s eyes. They devote a mere 15% of their funds to investment in the women’s game while the men get the lion’s share at 85%. Wage inequality between female and male soccer players is a concentrated example of the gender discrimination that still permeates in our society.

Differential Treatment

Prior to the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, a group of international female players from different nations banded together and sued FIFA. They did so in an effort to prevent the tournament from being played on artificial turf, which had never happened in the history of the World Cup. The lawsuit was based on the fact that artificial turf increases the likelihood of injuries to the players and is therefore in violation of basic human rights. The lawsuit was eventually dropped because the women who filed it claimed that FIFA threatened to suspend them and cancel the tournament. The actions taken by FIFA throughout the dispute reveal their truly discriminatory behavior. Women were forced into unfit and dangerous playing conditions that no man has ever been subjected to.

Media

FIFA has its own news media branch that reports on global soccer. There are countless instances of articles that simultaneously treat women and men differently while also sexualizing the female players. For example, the FIFA website called Alex Morgan, accomplished goal scorer for the United States, “very easy on the eye with good looks to match.” Additionally, Alex Morgan was featured in a weekly roundup article, as one of 2 female players amidst 12 male professionals, only because she is quoted as praising the goal of a male player. This blatant disregard for female skill coupled with the lack of respect and open objectification of women is unacceptable and does not happen to the men.

Unfortunately this attitude can be traced to the very top of the organization. The very recently deposed president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, said in an interview in 2004 that FIFA should “let women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball,” and “they could, for example, have tighter shorts.” Objectifying women for their sexual appeal to men is an example that has been set by the very leader of FIFA.

Feminism

In applying feminist theory very broadly to the debates presented, there are connections of relevance to both the female soccer players and the feminist theorists. During the Second Wave of feminism, Hollis Elkins wrote an article outlining why the Second Wave was incompatible with the issues of the female sports world . She claimed that the feminists of the period did not want to be labeled as lesbians, as athletes often were, therefore facing double the judgment and sports solidified gender roles because men utilized them to establish their “manliness.” .

The current Third Wave of feminism is in contrast with these beliefs for two main reasons. The first being that the Third Wave is more inclusive for all women, accepting people of any sexual orientation, and that there is no single “gender identity” which all women must conform to. This is important to the current topic because FIFA is actively working against such feminist efforts. FIFA puts pressure on their female soccer players to be seen as “feminine” women and not as “butch” athletes . They do so in the #Media, as shown above, but they compound this pressure by forcing females to conform to gender roles. This is done through FIFA’s required gender testing of all soccer teams, which reinforces the split between men and women by legitimizing the outdated and unfounded belief that women are incapable of competing with men because they are physically inferior .

Current feminist trends and beliefs share the interests of female soccer players around the globe. With the new wave of feminism being more accepting of all ethnicities and sexual orientations, it seems like a perfect fit for the sports world. Where women of all colours are united, through the game of soccer, with an opportunity to advocate for the rights and equality of all women.