5 Women’s World Cup inequalities: discrimination or just commercial reality?
In 2019 FIFA launched their new Women’s Football Strategy, which intended to overcome historical and ongoing challenges around institutional neglect and lack of investment, with FIFA themselves recognising that women’s football is in ‘both rude health and in the need of fundamental change’ (FIFA, 2019). One of their pledges is to raise the profile of the World Cup and use it as a driving force for the development of women’s football.
Despite this, following the 2019 women’s World Cup FIFA still faced criticism. One such example included this type of comment: ‘This was a tournament that often felt as if it was happening despite FIFA and not because of it. Playing catch-up at your own event is an odd choice – but I guess that’s FIFA politics for you’ (Hyde, 2019).
Divergent opinions on the prestige of women’s football, particularly in relation to the World Cup, regularly focus on the inequalities relating to the finances of the game. FIFA’s prize money for the 2022 men’s World Cup is $440m, while at the 2023 women’s tournament it stands at $60m (Lutz, 2022). This begs the question: are these inequalities actual discrimination or simply a commercial reality of a sport which doesn’t generate as much income as their male counterparts? This is a discussion which draws on arguments around both gender equality and the finances involved in World Cup tournaments. In the activity below you will explore this further.
Activity 5 A place for gender parity in World Cup tournaments?
The purpose of this activity is to help you begin to draw your own conclusions about this issue. Read the article below and answer the following questions:
- What examples of gender inequality does the author present relating to women’s football?
- Taking into consideration FIFA’s mission to: ‘Develop the Game, Touch the World, Build a Better Future’, do you believe the author offers a compelling reason for increased gender parity within World Cup tournaments, and what makes you feel this way?
I thought the main issue in women’s sports was equal pay. I was wrong [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] by Anya Alvarez in The Guardian (2019).
Discussion
- Alvarez claims limited marketing and promotion of events in comparison to men’s football is used as a means to explain why women’s competitions don’t generate the same level of attention of men. While she cites differences between rewards for the USA men’s and women’s teams at the men’s 2014 and women’s 2015 World Cups, statistics alone don’t always tell a full story. It is indisputable that the men’s World Cup generates significantly more revenue than the women’s tournaments and, as such, debates around money in the sport often focus on this revenue generation argument.
- Based on what you have read, you might support Alvarez in her suggestion that FIFA, and other sports authorities, should be spending more money on the promotion of women’s sport. Conversely, given the revenue generation argument it remains inevitable that FIFA would strongly fund men’s football. The men’s World Cup has flourished financially as a result of FIFA’s aggressive marketing and investment in it over several decades. Meanwhile, the women’s tournament is only a little over two decades old and FIFA has taken a more cautious and uncommitted approach. Considering FIFA’s mission is an important element of this discussion. Considering FIFA’s mission to grow football globally the benchmarks of their success, in theory, should perhaps be focused on getting more people playing, watching and caring about football. Some may view growing the women’s game is a far easier proposition than an already popular men’s game.
While there are some clear disparities between the men’s and women’s World Cups (and men’s/women’s football more generally) there have been some small steps taken which positively impacts women involved in the sport. Qatar 2022 will make history as the first men’s World Cup to have female referees in charge of matches. While in May 2022, US Soccer announced that its US men’s and women’s teams will share prize money from their respective World Cups. While not focused on the World Cup, England women’s European Championship victory in 2022 saw several records broken – their final against Germany became the highest ever attended women’s international match, and it also filled more seats than any other women’s or men’s European final.