For 50 years between 1921 and 1971, women in England were banned from playing football. Fast forward another 50 years and the game is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country thanks to the breaking of gender stereotypes being done at all levels.
Gender Stereotypes in Football
It was not that long ago that football was seen as unladylike. Girls who wanted to play would end up getting muddy. Tackling another woman required aggression and physicality. And that meant that the only girls who wanted to play football were “tomboys.” What an outdated phrase that sounds like in 21st century England.
Women and girls can now play and get involved in football and experience all the benefits that come with the sport, without being pigeonholed as tomboys or considered less feminine.
How Do Gender Issues Affect Football?
Breaking those stereotypes about women and girls playing football has taken time and effort from numerous organisations and inspirational individuals. The change has largely taken place since the turn of the century.
When future England manager Hope Powell took her coaching badges, she was the only woman on the course from level one right the way through to the UEFA Pro Licence, which she earned in 2003 having already been boss of the Lionesses for several years.
Powell has spoken many times about having to put in double the effort of her male counterparts to be taken seriously whilst working through her qualifications.
Before she came along, there was this belief that women could not be successful coaches or managers, whether that be working with male or female players. The very worst kind of gender stereotype.
What Powell did was break that stereotype about women leading in football. She paved the way for managers like current England boss Sarina Wiegman and Chelsea’s Emma Hayes.
Through her success with the Blues, Hayes is now considered one of the best managers in the country, regardless of gender. That would have been unthinkable when Powell was starting on her journey.
The Growth of Women’s Football
The increasing popularity of women’s football has turned the sport’s current playing stars into household names. This is arguably the first generation where that dreaded tomboy phrase is not thrown at players.
Visible and social media savvy stars like Leah Williamson, Ellie Roebuck and Alex Greenwood are seen as women footballers rather than girls playing a boys’ sport.
The impact this has had on breaking stereotypes surrounding women’s football and helping girls see that they will not be labelled if they want to play the game cannot be underestimated.
Challenging Gender Stereotypes at All Levels of the Game
These challenging of gender stereotypes at a professional level has been mirrored at a grassroots level. When Powell began her football journey as a child growing up in south London in the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was the only girl playing.
She was never picked for a team. Eventually, she was allowed to play alongside boys in her school side. After one win, the opposing school complained to the FA about Powell as mixed-gender teams were not allowed. Powell was subsequently banned from school football.
Future stars who grew up in the 1990s suffered similarly. Kelly Smith was the top scorer and the only girl on her boys’ team up until the age of seven when she was kicked out because of complaints from opposition sides who did not take kindly to being beaten by a side whose best player was a female.
When you hear stories like the treatment of Powell and Smith and consider that women who did play football were often given derogatory tags like that of a tomboy, it is little wonder that many girls were put off from playing the sport.
The key to ensuring that is not the case in the 2020s is by breaking those gender stereotypes as early as possible. We Make Footballers are doing that by getting girls as young as 3 involved in football.
The Importance of Female Role Models
Whether they train in classes with boys or in one of our new girls-only dedicated academies, they are treated as players rather than defined by their gender. To them at their young age, there is nothing tomboyish about playing football, nor do they have concerns about fitting a certain stereotype.
Once a young girl has that mindset and understands that football is fun and inclusive, the belief that it is a sport for them is a difficult one to shake. Our aim ultimately is to ensure that girls see football as something they love and want to be involved one for as long as possible. The ultimate destination is then to make a full-time career from the game.
Having female role models is crucial to this, which is why we work with countless female franchisee owners and coaches. When girls and boys are being taught and improved by women coaches, they understand that football is a sport for all and that anyone can make it to the top.
We place women front and centre of our promotional work, giving them equal prominence to boys. There is no better way to show girls that football is a game for them than by highlighting the success stories of relatable players who have already benefited from attending We Make Footballers.
And those benefits are why we are so keen to break down stereotypes surrounding women playing football. Girls have every right to profit from playing football as boys do.
Encouraging Girls to Play Football
Playing football can help girls build confidence through team success and individual achievements, such as mastering new skills. At the same time, they learn how to cope with failure and realise that this is one of the most powerful tools for improvement.
Playing football expands social circles by introducing girls to likeminded children who they share a common interest with. Many lifelong friendships come from football; what better way is there to bond than overplaying and watching the beautiful game?
Partaking in regular exercise improves both physical and mental health. Football gets children away from screens and out into the world. But most important of all, football is a way of having fun.
Football for women is unrecognisable from where it was even 20 years ago. There is still greater change to come however and more barriers to be broken down. We Make Footballers are leading that change.
There has never been a better time to get involved. To find out your nearest session and discover more about how we help get girls into football, then please see the We Make Footballers website.
