Sexualisation And The Underappreciation Of Women In Football

Women's football is undermined, mimicked, and sexualized by individuals. Women's football usually doesn't attract as many viewers and is severely under looked. People relate this to women not "having the physical build" to be able to compete with the men's side of the sport.

Two-thirds of women in football have experienced gender discrimination in the workplace, according to Women in Football's biggest survey. From the outcome of this survey, member of WiF and the organization's chair, Ebru Köksal said the survey results were "Heartbreaking and devastating"

She also added: "In this day and age, it's no longer acceptable," adding "Inherent sexism in the game has been continuing for decades."

Not only do the women have to deal with such degrading comments, but they also have to deal with lower pay and interaction/viewers because of people choosing not to pay attention.

Women's football was so unnoticed at one point that the main way they could up their viewing is if the team posed naked for a men's magazine. The issue happened back in 2007 when the Australian women's world cup team was told to pose naked to gain more viewers, which was deemed as wrong and extreme sexualization.

Not only were the Australian women's team told to do it to gain more viewers for the world cup, but the Women's German National team were also told to do so back in 2011, this time for the magazine 'Playboy.' On both occasions, this was used for promotion of the Women's World Cup.

After some negative feedback and a step in the correct direction, using nude women for promotion for the Women World Cup wasn't used again, but making women pose nude still gets used for promotion till this day.

Not only does the discrimination happen on the football field and social media, but it has also taken place at award ceremonies.

French DJ Martin Solveig ultimately was an example of sexualization when he told Ada Hegerberg to "twerk" after winning a Ballon d'Or. Not only did he say this to the Norwegian after winning one of the most prestigious trophies, but the humiliating comments were said on stage in front of thousands of people.

The degrading comment received a lot of public attention and Martin deservedly received a lot of hate from the general public. The fact that when Luka Modric got up to collect his Ballon d'Or his comments were all positive about his amazing season, but when the Lyon attacker came up to collect her reward, the first question was "can you twerk." The difference in comments tells us how differently women are treated in the sport.

Not only are women sexualized in the sport, but a lot of men don't watch the sport due to women being too 'short' and not 'physical enough.' An example of this is when ex-chief of FIFA, Sepp Blatter praised Frank Ribbery for not getting plastic surgery for his scars on his face that he got from a car accident at a young age, but when it came to women his comments were quite the opposite. The world football governing body suggested reducing the number of short players in the female sport, in an attempt to gain more viewers.

The double standards Sepp Blatter used, show how he appreciates the male game over the female game. As it came from an official FIFA governor, it shows how underappreciated the female game truly is.

The last reason why it's so hard to be a woman in football is how easily criticized they are after making a mistake. Whether your a women commentator, pundit, referee, or player people tend to not let you off the hook due to a mistake you made.

If a man is performing badly in a sport, there normally tended to be having an 'off day,' but if a woman is performing at a low level, it will end up being related to emotional issues, physical demands and even being told that there not good enough.

A footballing linesman/woman is a good example of this. For an individual to linesman/woman in a La Liga match, for example, they have to possess a professional standard and license. Obtaining the license is a proclamation that the individual is capable of handling a match of football. But when the first female lineswoman officiated a match, the commentators publicly commented on her ability to differentiate what is offside and what is not.

The constant undermining of women in football is a reason why so many women are scared to step foot into the sport. So many levels of hatred are shown to the women's sport and on top of the sexual harassment of female players, they have a lot to deal with as soon as they step foot on the pitch.

Sexual harassment and assault have been a main talking point in the past weeks after recent news that has broken out about the Sarah Everand case. Football is known as a Male-dominated sport and it takes a lot of courage for a female to be part of it, especially with all the criticism that comes with it. A positive side is that women's football is getting better day by day, but there is still such a far distance to climb before women not only feel safe and appreciated in the sport, but also in everyday situations.