The importance of women in sport

This week I had the opportunity to take a class with a great sports lawyer on a necessary and very important subject: gender equality in sport. Reviewing the presentation at home, I realised how many steps towards valuing women have already been taken, but also how many are still to come before we can truly become an equal society. Sport, as one of the best instruments for social transformation, can and should be a platform for this consideration of women.

The calculation is simple: it is estimated that half of the world's population is made up of women (UN 2019 statistics). Therefore, female representation in the various sectors of society should follow this proportion. However, this is not the reality.

We need to think about this.

Women in the Olympic movement

If we think about the practice of sport, there was a time when women weren't even allowed to attend sporting events. With the creation of the modern Olympic Games, idealized by Pierre de Coubertain, the values of global sporting integration were strengthened. However, according to the values of the time (1894), women's participation was seen as something uninteresting and incorrect.

Women have but one task, that of the role of crowning the winner with garlands... In public competitions, women’s participation must be absolutely prohibited. It is indecent that spectators would be exposed to the risk of seeing the body of a woman being smashed before their eyes. - Pierre de Coubertin

The first games to involve women were held in 1900 in Paris (out of 997 participants, 22 were women). A Frenchwoman Alice Milliat, believing in the need for equal opportunities, created the International Women's Sport Federation and, in 1921, organised the first women's Olympics in Monaco.

Over time, the fight to include women in the Olympic games became an irreversible agenda. In Tokyo (1964), the participation of women was 13%. In Los Angeles (1984), it was 23%.

In 1991 it was established that every new Olympic sport should include a women's event. At the London Games (2012), 44% of competitors were women. In Rio de Janeiro (2016), more than 45%. In Tokyo (2021), 48.8%. And finally, in Paris (2024) we will have the first Olympics with the same number of men and women competing (out of 10,500 athletes, 5,250 will be women).

According to the Olympic Charter, one of the missions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the pursuit of gender equality:

Rule 2.8: to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women;

This commitment allows us to see that building equality, combined with social evolution and education, is a totally achievable goal.

Points for improvement

There are many sectors that need to evolve. The coaching world is one of them. In 2019, only 31% of sports coaches in Europe were women (gender equality in sport - European Parliament).

If we stop to think about our own reality, we realise that few women occupy management and command positions in the world of sports. Few women are presidents (or owners) of clubs, few hold positions in sports federations and very few actually run any organisation.

It is therefore important that initiatives aimed at gender equality are taken.

Women and football

In the world's most popular sport, we have seen some changes towards valuing women. In 2016, through a reform committee, FIFA addressed some issues to be resolved:

• What's the problem?
• Is there a lack of female representation?
• Is there a lack of resources?

As proposals, the organisation felt that women should be included in decision-making in football and that investment should be made in women's football.

The organisation then included another objective in its Statutes:

Art 2 - The objectives of FIFA are: (f) to promote the development of women’s football and the full participation of women at all levels of football governance

Art 33 Composition, election of the President, the vice-presidents and the members of the Council | 5. The members of each confederation must ensure that they elect at least one female member to the Council. In the event that no female candidate is elected by the members of a confederation for the Council, the seat reserved for a female member of such confederation will be deemed forfeited by all members of such confederation and shall remain vacant until the next election of members of the Council.

In 2016, Mrs Fatma Samoura became FIFA's first female General Secretary (CEO).

In October 2018, FIFA launched the FIFA Women's Football Strategy which, among other things, set out to increase the participation of women in football around the world, aiming to have 60 million female players by 2026; improve and optimise revenues; and create a more sophisticated ecosystem for women's football, encouraging female leadership.

Finally, it is important to highlight the recent changes to FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), which have guaranteed greater protection for female players.

In 2020/2021, rules were included to guarantee:

• Mandatory maternity leave of at least 14 weeks, at a minimum of two thirds of the player’s contracted salary.
• On their return to work, clubs must reintegrate female players and provide adequate medical and physical support.
• No female player should ever suffer a disadvantage as a result of becoming pregnant, thus securing greater employment protection for women in football.

Numbers in Football

As we've seen, the relevance of women in sport is constantly evolving, and this can be seen in FIFA's latest transfer report (Global Transfer Report 2023).

The number of international transfers of female players continues to grow.

In 2023, a total of 1,888 transfers were made by 623 clubs from 131 different associations. Transfer fees are also on the rise: 147 in 2023, a 50 per cent increase on 2022.

In terms of value, transfers totalled 6.1 million dollars. 88 clubs invested money in transfer fees, an increase of 35.4% compared to 2022.

The trend is for these figures to continue to grow. And that's great for all stakeholders in the industry.

We'll still see many stadiums filled to capacity for women's football matches.

Conclusion

A lot is already being done. But there's plenty of room for improvement. Valuing women in sport should be a permanent agenda. May we fight for respect and equality (with equal opportunities).

Happy International Women's Day!

References

BELLVER, Reyes. Gender (in)equality in sports. Lecture given at the International Sports Law master's programme at ISDE on 4 March 2024.

FIFA. Global Transfer Report 2023. Launched on January 2024.