First paragraph: Few events in women’s sport generate more attention than the football World Cup. Around 750m people watched the last tournament and, in June, France will host the 2019 competition, featuring the defending champions from the US.https://theconversation.com/womens-world-cup-extra-time-to-reflect-on-the-broader-injustices-women-and-girls-face-11646

de Soysa, Lilamani

Zip, Sarah

English

Stirling Online Research Repository

06/06/2019 Women's World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broader injustices women and girls facehttps://theconversation.com/womens-world-cup-extra-time-to-reflect-on-the-broader-injustices-women-and-girls-face-116460 1/4AuthorsSarah ZippLecturer, Faculty of Health Science andSport, University of StirlingLilamani de SoysaResearcher in Sports Studies, University ofTsukubaAcademic rigour, journalistic flairWomen’s World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broaderinjustices women and girls faceMay 30, 2019 11.40am BSTFew events in women’s sport generate more attention than the football World Cup. Around 750mpeople watched the last tournament and, in June, France will host the 2019 competition, featuring thedefending champions from the US.But the American team’s battle off the pitch may reveal more about the state of women’s football thanmatch day performances. In March, the squad filed a lawsuit against USA Soccer, the governing bodyof the sport in the country, alleging gender discrimination. The vast pay gap between the men’s andwomen’s teams – despite the women consistently outperforming the men and generating more revenue – is just one aspect of the legal undertaking.Invest in experts. Donate now and help share theirmessage with a global audience.Donate nowUSA vs Spain in a 2019 friendly. EPA/MANUEL LORENZO06/06/2019 Women's World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broader injustices women and girls facehttps://theconversation.com/womens-world-cup-extra-time-to-reflect-on-the-broader-injustices-women-and-girls-face-116460 2/4The squad is arguing for more than a pay raise. Its members want increased support for developingyouth football, promoting the game and better pathways for women in international leadership roles.These factors are critical to the future success of the sport and improving opportunities for girls andwomen to benefit from participation.This struggle extends far beyond one team, one sport or one country. It forms part of a much widermovement for equal rights across all levels of sport, human rights and politics.In February 2019, an important step was taken when the United Nations Education Scientific andCultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Swiss government agreed to carry out a feasibility study into the creation of a new “global observatory” for women and sport.A global observatory (a source of information, analysis and activism) would help align several parallelmovements: the UN’s overall efforts to promote gender equality, its sustainable development goals inlow and middle income countries, and the ongoing struggle for girls and women in sport.For decades, these complementary movements have helped advance social change around the globe,working to make the world into a more inclusive space. Yet at the pinnacle of women’s sport, the bestathletes are undeniably treated as lesser beings.Yes, there are differences in popularity and revenue in elite sport, but how sports make profit is complex and gendered. Nevertheless, it is hard to argue against improving opportunities for girls andwomen to simply play sport for health, social inclusion and recreation.The global observatory would aspire to identify these inequalities, analyse them, and advocate forchange. Yet gender equality initiatives often languish in review, debate and endless contemplation.In the 1970s, the Olympic system was slowly (and controversially) expanding opportunities forwomen. The UN also began considering gender equality, and in 1979 adopted an international treaty, The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).Essentially a bill of rights for women that prohibits discrimination by sex, it has been ratified by 189countries. (The US is one of seven countries which have not ratified CEDAW – alongside Iran,Somalia and South Sudan.)Various groups pressed on for greater social change, but it wasn’t until the 1994 internationalconference on women and sport that the Brighton Declaration was drafted, which has served as a roadmap for gender equality in sport. At Brighton in England, the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) was born, becoming a leading voice for gender equality in sport and aUNESCO partner.Another push came after the 2004 Olympics, when a UNESCO group of ministers for sport firstproposed the global observatory. But the call stalled for years until it was revived in 2017. Then, inApril 2019, the Swiss government agreed to conduct the feasibility study.The marathon of gender equality06/06/2019 Women's World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broader injustices women and girls facehttps://theconversation.com/womens-world-cup-extra-time-to-reflect-on-the-broader-injustices-women-and-girls-face-116460 3/4UNESCO Olympics Women's football Women's sport FIFA Women's World Cup Title IX Caster SemenyaProgress has been slow, and it will be one of the tasks of the observatory, when it is finally formed, tounderstand why.Justice delayed is justice denied – especially in sport, when a month’s hiatus can destroy a life longdream such as competing at the Olympics. Olympic champion Caster Semenya is currently preventedfrom competing by a ruling which would force her to take hormone suppressing drugs. Her battle isfar from over. More broadly, each delay represents opportunities lost for girls and women the worldover.Swiss support in moving the gender and sport agenda further is a valuable step forward. Switzerlandis also the place where the UN (in Geneva) and the international world of sport meet (Lausanne ishome to the International Olympic Committee and many international sport federations). Anobservatory for women and sport in Switzerland could become a nexus for sport, gender equality andhuman rights.All of this matters beyond sport. Systematic inequalities in sport have a major impact on people’s livesand reflect diverse social, economic and political inequalities.The observatory should be the platform that monitors, advocates and ensures equality in sport – andbeyond. If it does that, everyone will benefit. As Benjamin Franklin once said:Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.Before you go...The Conversation serves society by making knowledge accessible to all, not justthe few. Our only agenda is a better informed public. If you care about what we'When I Play' | espnW | ESPN Stories06/06/2019 Women's World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broader injustices women and girls facehttps://theconversation.com/womens-world-cup-extra-time-to-reflect-on-the-broader-injustices-women-and-girls-face-116460 4/4do, please make a donation now and help secure our future.Stephen KhanEditorDonate now

Women's World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broader injustices women and girls face

First paragraph: Few events in women’s sport generate more attention than the football World Cup. Around 750m people watched the last tournament and, in June, France will host the 2019 competition, featuring the defending champions from the US

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http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/29722/1/Zipp-Conversation-2019.pdf

Women's World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broader injustices women and girls face

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