6 the Future of Football Is Female!?
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1111 2 6 The future of football is 3 4 female!? 5 6 On the past and present of women’s 7 football in Germany1 8 9 1011 Gertrud Pfister 1 2 3111 Introduction 4 ‘The future of football is female’, declared FIFA president Joseph Blatter 5 after the women’s football World Championship in 1995. Whether or not 6 his prediction will turn out to be correct will be discussed in the second 7 part of this chapter. Football has a future in Germany, not least because 8 of the World Championship which will take place in Berlin in 2006. In 9 20111 Germany, football is definitely on the agenda today, with books on foot- 1 ball being published, discussions held and exhibitions planned. Politicians, 2 artists and scholars are certainly talking about and reflecting on football 3 – but about ‘proper’ football, i.e. the male version. 4 From the very start, football and masculinity were closely intertwined. 5 In the 1880s, English students, businessmen and sailors imported football 6 into Germany, where it was looked upon as being such an aggressive, 7 exhausting and dangerous game that anxious physicians and educationists 8 wanted to see football banned, especially for boys. But this opposition could 9 not stop the enormous popularity of the game. Certainly by the end of the 30111 First World War football had become Germany’s national sport, awakening 1 both the interest and the national feelings of the (male) population (Pfister 2 2003a). Football provided (and still does provide) a stage upon which male 3 attributes and behaviour such as toughness, strength and a fighting spirit are 4 not only expected but also demonstrated and rewarded. The football stadium 5 is a place where – whether on the pitch or in the stands – men can be men 6 and act like ‘real’ men, and where fans can identify with players and imagine 7 themselves as heroes (see, for example, Dunning 1986; Marschik 2003). 8 Fighting for possession of the ball, the ‘sworn brotherhood’ of eleven players, 9 the chanting and singing on the terraces (‘Deutschland vor – noch ein Tor’ 40111 [‘Germany in the lead – another goal we need’]), the playing of the game 1 live and its coverage by the mass media, the speeches, texts and pictures, 2 the numerous associations, symbols and myths – all this contributes towards 3 the glorification of masculinity and national superiority. The language of 4 football likewise belongs to the world of men, a world full of metaphors 45111 depicting the game as a battle and the players as soldiers and heroes attacking 94 Gertrud Pfister 1111 and defending, striking and shooting and, in the end, either claiming victory 2 or suffering defeat. 3 For a very long time women did not exist in this world, since football 4 was totally incompatible with femininity. The exclusion and later the 5 marginalization of women in football contributed at the same time to the 6 construction and presentation of gender differences, and thus to the repro- 7 duction of a gender order based on gender duality. The question arises as 8 to whether the growing popularity of women’s football in recent years has 9 changed the world of football and whether, in general, it signals a change 1011 in the gender arrangements prevailing in society. In this chapter, I recon- 1 struct the history of women’s football in Germany, analyse the initiatives 2 for and the opposition to the participation of women in this ‘unfeminine’ 3111 sport, and describe the opportunities as well as the challenges for female 4 football players today. In conclusion, I will discuss the prevalent discourses 5 and reconstructions of gender in and through football. 6 7 From German gymnastics to sport and football – men’s 8 spheres 9 20111 Backgrounds and contexts – women and physical activities 1 2 The development of women’s soccer in Germany can only be understood 3 against the backdrop of the social order and the gender arrangements of 4 the time, and in the context of the developments of movement cultures 5 such as Turnen and sport. Turnen (German gymnastics) developed at the 6 beginning of the nineteenth century as a reaction to social and economic 7 changes as well as to the military and political challenges of the period. 8 The aim of the Turner movement was to liberate Germany from French 9 occupation, to overthrow the feudal order, and to overcome the division 30111 of Germany into small kingdoms and principalities and form a German 1 nation state. Turnen was developed by men and for men. The exclusion of 2 women can be explained, on the one hand, with the political and military 3 aims of Turnen and, on the other, with the role of women in the nine- 4 teenth century – a role which denied them, among other things, political 5 rights, university education and academic professions. Legitimised by the 6 theory of the polar differences between the ‘natures’ and the characteristics 7 of the two sexes, women were considered the ‘weaker sex’ and their activ- 8 ities restricted to the home, the family and motherhood. Because of the 9 myth of the ‘weaker sex’ and women’s ‘predestination’ as wives and mothers, 40111 the participation of women in strenuous and dangerous exercises was 1 unthinkable (Pfister and Langenfeld 1980, 1982). 2 From the 1830s onwards some physical education teachers provided 3 courses in gymnastics for girls with the promise of improved health and 4 enhanced grace, but it was not until the end of the 1880s that adult women 45111 began to take up Turnen. They founded women’s gymnastics associations Women’s football in Germany 95 1111 or formed women’s sections in men’s Turnen clubs, where, however, they 2 were denied the same membership rights as the male Turner. Girls’ and 3 women’s gymnastics followed the principle of ‘heads up and legs down’ and, 4 for the most part, consisted of simple and easy exercises on apparatus and 5 gymnastic exercises (Pfister 1980). 6 By the end of the nineteenth century, English sports had spread to 7 Germany. In stark contrast to Turnen, sport emphasized competition, quan- 8 tifiable performance and records, thus giving rise to a serious conflict between 9 the Turner movement and advocates of sport. It was a question not only 1011 of values and tastes but also of power and influence: whereas the Turner 1 propagated the training of the whole body, the inclusion of the (male) 2 masses and nationalism, sport was about specialisation, top performances 3111 and international competitions and comparisons (Pfister 2003b). The Turner 4 concentrated their attacks on football, which was denounced as being 5 un-German, unaesthetic and dangerous. While the number of female mem- 6 bers joining Turnen clubs increased towards the turn of the century, sport 7 was still considered to be particularly ‘unfeminine’. Nevertheless, women, 8 too, were overcome by the growing fascination with sport and dared – at 9 first individually – to take up various sports from cycling to skiing. 20111 In most sports women were confronted with specific problems, reflecting 1 established opinions with regard to the abilities and competences of the so 2 called ‘weaker sex’ on the one hand and the expectations which society 3 had of women (and also of men) on the other. Swimming was problem- 4 atic because women in bathing suits supposedly undermined public morals 5 and offended the laws of propriety. And, since rowing was believed to be 6 too strenuous for them, women rowers were restricted to competitions in 7 style which focused on exact movements rather than on speed. Athletics 8 was looked upon as especially unfeminine because it was competition- 9 oriented and thus allegedly exceeded women’s physical as well as mental 30111 capacities. 1 In Germany, the First World War had far-reaching consequences, bringing 2 about fundamental changes to the political, social and economic situation. 3 The political and economic problems and the related insecurity and crises 4 of identity which followed Germany’s defeat created a climate favouring 5 manifold and, in part, contradictory developments in all areas of life. For 6 women, these changes brought with them new opportunities: they now 7 had access to university education and academic professions, and in 1919, 8 through universal suffrage and the right to vote, they gradually gained polit- 9 ical influence and power. Fashion freed women from corsets and long skirts, 40111 and the abolition of traditional norms and values gave women access, at 1 least as long as they were single, to the labour market. However, this does 2 not mean that the gender hierarchy had disappeared. Women mostly worked 3 in low-paid occupations in factories or offices and, upon marrying, entered 4 a new state of dependence, this time on their husband as the head of the 45111 family. However, it must be added that the expectations which society had 96 Gertrud Pfister 1111 of women and the circumstances of their personal lives were dependent to 2 a great degree on their social backgrounds and the attitudes of their sur- 3 roundings. Although women’s ideals and roles were various and ambivalent, 4 the staunch belief in the unchangeable ‘natures’ as well as the pre-ordained 5 order of men and women dominated popular wisdom (Frevert 1995). 6 During this period, increasing numbers of German women started to take 7 part in physical activities, leading to a heated debate on the question of 8 whether women ought to be allowed to take up sports which demanded 9 strength, endurance or aggressiveness and whether it was appropriate for the 1011 ‘weaker sex’ to play in contests.