Why are women in sports still not being taken seriously?
Image Courtesy of FIFA Women’s World Cup
It was a huge weekend for football fans as England made it into the final of the FIFA World Cup.
Despite sadly losing out to Spain, this is still a phenomenal achievement considering it is the first time that England have been in a World Cup final since 1966. So you would think, as the first time in almost 60 years, this would be the biggest game of the century, with high-profile officials in attendance?
The BBC reported that an audience of 21.2 million watched its coverage of the tournament. Yet none of the Royal family or the Prime Minister attended the match, as they usually would.
Why? Oh, that’s right, because it’s women’s football.
Despite the England women’s team achieving far more than the men in the last year, first winning the Euros in 2022 and now making it to the World Cup final in 2023, they are still underpaid, under-watched and under-appreciated compared to the men’s team. Somehow these achievements are still seen as lesser than the men’s team because the women weren’t playing against men, they were playing against other women, as if that makes it easier.
We all know those guys who dedicate their lives to watching football, but all of a sudden aren’t interested in the World Cup anymore when it’s the women’s teams playing. The only difference is gender, the game is still the game. So I think we know exactly why that is.
Prince William and Rishi Sunak are being called out for their social media posts congratulating the Lionesses rather than attending the game. The Prince of Wales has been the president of England’s Football Association since 2006, and is therefore often seen at football matches. In his video stating he couldn’t make it, he was sat with his only daughter Charlotte, whereas his two sons were absent. This just further pushes the message that boys shouldn’t care about women’s sports, and it is only for girls to enjoy.
Can you imagine those people not being bothered about the World Cup final if the England men’s team were playing? No, it would be literally the biggest deal ever. We’d probably get a bank holiday off to celebrate as a nation.
It’s just further proof that women always have to work harder to achieve the same, and then even when they attain greater goals, it is still undervalued.
Little girls who love football grew up watching men play the sport, had male role models and wore the shirts of male players. So why aren’t we encouraging boys to also see these female players as role models? Everyone can be inspired by these women, not just girls.
I think the issue comes with gendering the sport; with men’s football being named just ‘football’ and women’s football having that addition makes it sound other, as though men’s football is the real sport, is actually football, and women’s football is not.
The only way to boost equality in sports is for everyone to get on board, no matter which gender is playing the game.
Women’s sports are real sports.
Women’s football is football.
A huge congratulations to the Lionesses for their continued achievement, inspiration and dedication to breaking the boundaries of sport and being England’s most successful football team.
Written by Ally McLaren
Editor
Hi, I’m Ally, Editor of This Modern Struggle Magazine.
You may have seen my writing in Mouthy Magazine or Darling Magazine. I currently work in Marketing and PR and do freelance copywriting on the side. I also have experience in journalism and feature writing for women’s magazines and national press.
When I’m not writing you can find me eating pizza, stroking my cat and watching true crime documentaries.
I started this magazine for all the fellow strugglers who feel the same way that I do; like everyone else has it all figured out and you just don’t know what you’re doing in life.