Not that long ago it was almost unacceptable for a girl to play any sport, let alone football. Girls are meant to be graceful, pretty and there’s no place in football for that. Football is dirty, sweaty and sometimes rough, it’s just no place for a nice girl. Fortunately for women in sport, that kind of philosophy is outdated and even though it’s still present in some places, women playing football is completely normal today.
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How Women’s World Cup Brought Change
It was obvious things have massively changed when FIFA’s Women’s World Cup happened in 2019. It was advertised everywhere - TV, social media, you name it. Female footballers were finally being treated like proper football players with many of them becoming icons of the sport in the summer of 2019. Little girls finally experienced seeing female representation in football and started to dream of becoming like Megan Rapinoe or Ellen White. It was a really great summer for women’s sport.
However, not long before the Women’s World Cup - in December 2018 to be precise, Ada Hegerberg was the first recipient of Ballon d’Or Féminin (basically a female version of the most prestigious award a footballer can win in their career) and during her acceptance of the award, she was asked if she knew how to twerk. The scandal outraged many and righteously so, but also proved that there is so much more that needs be improved in women’s football. There should be no place for that kind of sexism in women’s sports, but somehow the spot still exists.
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Equal Pay and Gender Equality in Football
Some male footballers earn more than whole teams of female footballers together and the gender inequality when it comes to pay is obvious. For example; Alex Morgan, one of the biggest female football superstars earns around £350,000 on a yearly basis, compared to Cristiano Ronaldo who earns around £30 million which is almost 86 times more. Basically, what Alex Morgan earns in a whole year, Cristiano Ronaldo earns in two/three weeks. Cristiano Ronaldo actually earns more than top 10 female footballers do all together, which unfortunately proves the massive gender pay gap.
A lot of women playing professional football often have a job on a side that pays the bills, because for some - football doesn’t feed them or their families. It has been reported that even women that played in the World Cup struggled to meet their ends with the football salary. This creates a vicious cycle as women can’t solely focus on football and improving their game like their male colleagues can. That’s why the news about England Women’s team receiving the same pay as Men’s is great news for all women in sport.
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FA announcement brings hope
Following Australia, Norway, New Zealand and Brazil who have previously decided to respectively pay both women’s and men’s teams equally, Football Association announced that England’s women’s and men’s teams receive the same pay. Hopefully, this will aid to the further development of women’s football and will help promote it on a larger scale. Women can play football and they deserve to be paid equally. To the rest of the football associations in the world, now it’s your turn to show the support.
Dear ladies, always remember to raise your voices and fight for what is your right!
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