Why is women’s football so white? An Arsenal team photo with only white players drew attention to the imbalance this week. Tonight’s international match between England and Belgium will confirm the trend once again. Looking for explanation.
The lack of contrast was too great to ignore.
When the Arsenal women’s team proudly shared its team photo for the new season a few weeks ago, it suddenly rained indignant reactions.
Cause? The roster of 27 did not include a single minority player. Statistically almost impossible for a club from multicultural North London.
The Gunners, who do have a diverse men’s squad, reportedly issued a mea culpa statement this week: “We recognize that our current women’s team does not reflect the diversity that exists within the club and community,” it said. “It is a priority to do better.”
Not just Arsenal, but all of us. Because other women’s teams also suffer from underrepresentation of minority groups.
The England national team? Barely three black players.
And our Red Flames? Even just two – Welma Fon and Kassandra Missipo. What a difference with the Red Devils, where ten players provided color in the last selection.
That enormous difference raises questions.
Red Flame Kassandra Missipo recently scored against Scotland.
Playing with hijab
Jeroen Scheerder, professor and professor of sports sociology at KU Leuven, among others, became fascinated by the theme.
During the recent Women’s World Cup, he also noticed that many national teams were not very diverse.
“I then did some research,” says Scheerder, who saw his first impressions confirmed by figures.
“At that time, 8% of the Flames had a migration background, compared to 46% of the Red Devils. The percentages from the English football leagues leaned towards this, but the Cats, for example, were much more diverse.”
Red Devils Red Flames Diversity 46% 8% Premier League men Premier League women Diversity 43% 10% Belgian Lions Belgian Cats Diversity 29% 17%
“That is striking, because football is a sport that lends itself well to bridging social and cultural differences,” Scheerder continues. “That does not yet appear to be the case in women’s football. The teams there are not yet a demographic reflection of society.”
And so the million dollar question is: why is it that women’s football is still a white sport?
“I think the infrastructure is the first important reason,” says Scheerder.
“The spaces available for football in the past often went to boys and men – only relatively recently have the accommodations been shared with women.”
Ten years ago no one would have thought that there would be a women’s team in Molenbeek, but now there is a great initiative with the RWDM Girls.
Katrien Jans
Katrien Jans, women’s football manager at the Belgian Football Association, also points out that the shorter history plays a role.
“It takes time for diversity to flow to the top. That process will take a few more years, but we already see that our national youth teams are much more multicultural.”
Scheerder mentions a second element in his search for an explanation.
“I think the religious also plays a role,” he said.
“At the World Cup, a player played with a hijab for the first time, but for a long time this was not obvious for Muslim women. It was recently decided in France that headscarves should not be worn on the football field. For many women, this means the end of their football ambitions, right.”
Jans adds: “In many cultures there used to be less openness to letting girls play football. Ten years ago, no one would have thought that there would be a women’s team in Molenbeek, but now there is a great initiative with the RWDM Girls.”
Katrien Jans, women’s football manager at the KBVB.
Policy efforts
The Belgian Football Association is already planning to focus even more on similar projects.
“After the European Championship in 2022, we decided that we would focus on more diversity in women’s football,” says Jans.
“We mainly want to do this by increasing the influx at the grassroots level. We are working hard on this in consultation with all our wings, such as Voetbal Vlaanderen.”
For Scheerder, more policy efforts should indeed be made. Because the sports sociologist likes to emphasize the social potential of football.
“Look at Belgian icons like Vincent Kompany and Romelu Lukaku. For them too, sport was a means of social mobility. Why should it be any different for women?”
2023-10-27 09:58:49
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