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IWD MAG A magazine for International Women’s Day “The most inspiring thing would be...” A magazine for International Women’s Day 13 For the love of the game By Goal Diggers FC, London. It’s been 100 years since the English FA banned women’s football - a ban that lasted 50 years... 17 Can you see us? Michelle Moore on who has power in football and the questions Contents leaders must ask themselves 4 Racialised women have had to walk this path alone. 19 From Spain to Japan: a coach’s perspective Writer Shireen Ahmed sets out a manifesto for change Interview with Milagros Martinez, Head Coach at Suzuka PG from North America Men’s team, Japan 7 Please. Just get it done! 22 A meditation on working in Africa with young women The Matildas Active Support, the Australian women’s Jean Sseninde national team supporters group, spoke to us about how they rocked France in 2019, what a home World Cup holds, and what needs to be fixed in Australian women’s football 24 This is the reality of women’s football in Bosnia The challenges facing women footballers in Bosnia are many, but Daliborka Nikolic describes the commitment of one club to 10 What’s in a name in Mexico? change that When our friends Somos Versus decided to produce a guide to inclusive language for the media they didn’t expect what came next 26 Les Hijabeuses In France, a ban on the wearing of the hijab effectively bans most Muslim women from playing football. Elies Ben Azib explains why www.farenet.org A magazine for International Women’s Day communities in US Soccer, with the equivalent European research expected later this year. Our Ethnic Minority Women’s Group So here we are, another demonstrates the talent and experience football is missing. And the expansion of last month’s Football v Homophobia grants saw campaigns promoting LGBTIQ+ inclusion taking place across International Women’s Day the globe, from Brazil to Georgia, with several projects promoting trans inclusion and examining the intersection between homophobia e love IWD. It’s a day to celebrate and focus on us, our and sexism. achievements, concerns and wants as women. Even if There is always more work to do, but with the Euros scheduled Wit says a lot that over half of the world’s population only for next year, the Australia/ New Zealand World Cup just two gets a day of focus... years away, and inspiring actors in the field such as those contributing to this magazine, there are many things to celebrate There is a lot to do. In sport, we continue to see an under- this International Women’s Day. representation of women in leadership. Women’s football has been under particular threat in the face of Covid-19 responses, with funding to women’s teams and leagues often being diverted in favour of financing the mens football. Globally, many players still THIS MAGAZINE BRINGS TOGETHER SOME OF do not have professional status, receiving minimal pay and lacking THE WOMEN AND GROUPS CREATING CHANGE AT employment rights. And, as it’s becoming clear, incidents of sexual abuse are endemic globally. EVERY LEVEL OF SOCIETY. READ THEIR STORIES, For Fare, and for many of our partner organisations, the battle UNDERSTAND THE CHALLENGES THEY FACE, AND against injustice and inequality will continue year-round. Gender equality will not achieve itself, nor can it be reached in isolation. We CELEBRATE THE GAINS THEY HAVE MADE. need to take into account racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and other discriminations when actively tackling sexism. In the past year, we have published ground-breaking work exploring the under-representation of women and ethnic minority www.farenet.org 3 A magazine for International Women’s Day It is important to remember that in addition to being elite athletes, formidable coaches, professional members of the media and Racialised women have had administrative experts, we also become advocates of our own existence in these spaces. I have rarely met a colleague in sports who does not have to fight to walk this path alone ingrained sexism along with doing her job – as well as educate those around her. This latter applies very specifically to racialised Writer SHIREEN AHMED sets out a manifesto for change women in sports spaces. Women of Colour have to patiently teach from North America. and help others unlearn while simultaneously keeping up with their very year on international Women’s Day, the sports media own substantial workload and balance it all for their mental health world decides to pay attention to women for a day. Be it and dare I say, survival. digital pieces on women’s history, or a shallow dive into This type of added labour is often un-renumerated. It is exhausting E and it continues. Injustice in football disproportionately affects women who have “broken barriers”. racialised women. We know this. The past year has been challenging; the deadly virus has not only taken lives but pushed women athletes further to the margins. A FIFPRO survey collected data from over 60 different countries between July and October 2020. The report showed that women had their wages slashed and that communication regarding strategy and planning was subpar. The reality is that while women’s football has made steady gains in the last few years, it is not difficult to push it to the backburner and reprioritise the men’s game. www.farenet.org 4 A magazine for International Women’s Day Furthermore, women of colour are expected to solve the issues themselves. Sky Blue player Midge Purce rallied teammates and created a Black Players Coalition in the National Women’s Soccer League. In a piece reported by Sandra Herrera for CBS Purce said: “As a community within the NWSL, we were very fragmented. There wasn’t a way where we could have conversations with each other or explain experiences.” A rookie to the league, Purce took initiative and created a space for Black players who were navigating trauma and stress after the world was shaken by George Floyd’s murder by a policeman. That trauma and anger reverberated all over the world. It impacted sports in a way we had not previously seen; not because racism hasn’t existed but that it could no longer be denied. For the first time, calls to keep ‘politics out of sport’ rang very hollow. Football and politics are inextricably linked. We have seen the work done to research on exclusionary systems in the sport. Fare’s own report co-authored by Dr. Brenda Elsey and Dr. Jermaine Scott on the representation of Women, Black and Latinx in US Soccer There are blueprints for anti-oppression in women’s football. revealed a bleak reality: women hold so few senior positions in Whether it is the way that former players and allies rally to combat coaching or authority at clubs and in leagues. horrific abuse in Afghanistan or Haiti, we still need accountability There are a few teams that do not even have representation from at the highest levels. In both cases, both presidents of the Black and Latinx communities, the most populous racialised groups aforementioned associations were banned for life from all football in America. This is a failure of epic proportions. What are the activities for sexually abusing players and other egregious crimes. academies doing wrong, and what is the sport not doing to equalise Football media also has a responsibility to accurately report on all playing fields? It is not enough to boast about gender equity what is happening in the world. Perhaps headcovering bans that when large swathes of the population – specifically racialsed continue for women in France may not be a click-bait story but it is women – are knowingly excluded from what is supposed to be the important, nonetheless. Les Hijabeuses are a part of the continuing world’s game. story of football. www.farenet.org 5 A magazine for International Women’s Day While there are a handful of disrupters in mainstream sports While the world looks to the USWNT as a stalwart of movement media, we must hold the media accountable for their role in and advocacy for equal pay, the women await a settlement. They are upholding the same conversations and demand that similar systems the more accomplished and decorated national soccer team. They of oppression (racism and sexism) be exposed and expunged. How paved the way for important conversations about valuing the work many women do we see in editorial roles at sports desks? Not just that women do, but they are also some of the most celebrated and presenters, but executive producers and those in hiring roles? Who recognisable players in the world. What about those from whom we decides on how stories are told? don’t hear? Changing language is necessary. Being forthright is necessary. Arhundati Roy once wrote: “There’s really no such thing as the We are not in a place to dilly dally with words. We are either ‘voiceless’. There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably committed to working against the evils of racism, misogyny and unheard.” homophobia and the dangers of transphobia and xenophobia or we What we need to keep in mind is that no one is ‘voiceless’. On this are not. International Women’s Day we must look beyond the performative to the sustainable and actionable steps that help women in football, women, and football. WORDS MATTER. ACTION IS CRITICAL. I would be remiss if I did not mention that racialised women have had to walk this path alone.

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