International Womens' Rights Day
The 8th March is an opportunity each year to assess progress in terms of women's rights and in particular one that is fundamental to us, the right for all girl to play. As a brand, committed to the development of women's sport, in particular football, we wanted to come back on this special year ...
For almost a year, football, and sport more generally, has been filled with uncertainties. The pandemic marked a real pause to the development of women's football, pushing it further into the background.
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"The interruption of sport practice has weakened amateur football, especially women's football".
In May 2020, after two months of uncertainties, the FFF officially decides to put an end to the 2019-2020 season of the women's D1 (1). Olympique Lyonnais was then titled for the 14th time in a row. This stop weakened football, whether professional or amateur.According to a study by the International Federation of Professional Footballers Associations (FIFPro), in almost half of the countries covered by the study, the salary of professional players has been reduced or suspended (2).
Faced with these difficulties, plans to revive and support men's and women's football have been implemented by FIFA and the FFF. In June 2020, the FFF notably created a solidarity fund of 30 million euros, with a specific aid of 6 million euros dedicated to women's clubs in D1. Good news which however showed the limits of the development policy of women's football. The initial distribution of this financial support was completely unequal, favoring clubs backed by a professional structure. Amateur clubs had to threaten the League to strike in order to review the situation. They won their case a few months later, and the overall envelope was raised to 8.7 million euros (3).
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“A symbolic milestone crossed but a French delay in terms of feminization”.
In March 2020, an important milestone was reached in France, with the number of licensees having reached the symbolic mark of 200,000 licensees, i.e. a growth of 128% in 8 years. However, this development risks being slowed down by the health crisis. According to published figures, the crisis led to a decrease in the number of FFF licensees (men and women combined) by 3% (a much smaller drop than in other team sports (4) which was on average 9.4%)The French Football Federation, which has only recognized women's football since 1970, has been actively working since 2011 to develop female sport. Today, there are 9,000 women's teams registered, twice as many as in 2011 and 4 out of 5 clubs host women's teams. There are now 36,805 leaders and 1,140 female referees. Despite these advances, the feminization rate of football is 9%, still far from that of the major European nations (5) like Germany (15.5%), England (27.5%) or Sweden (38.4%).
One thing is certain, despite the advances and a pennant team that shines all over the world, French football still has a long way to go and frustrations to fill.As we recalled, this year has been extremely complicated, but now is also a time for hope, in France and abroad.
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Maternity leave measuresFIFA has announced measures to facilitate maternity leave for professional football players. A crucial subject for the career of the players. Too often players today have to make a choice: play soccer or start a family. So that this choice does not have to exist anymore, FIFA wants the players to be able to be pregnant while not putting their careers in danger.
Thus, 3 measures have been put in place:
- Compulsory maternity leave of at least 14 weeks, paid at least two-thirds of the salary,
- Mandatory reintegration into the club following pregnancy with appropriate medical and physical monitoring,
- Protection of players against any disadvantage related to pregnancy. (6)
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Equal pay in football overview of progress.
In 2017, the Norwegian Football Federation announced equal pay between the women's and men's teams. Australia, often a pioneer in equality, was doing the same in 2019, as was Finland.In 2020, the Brazilian Federation and the English Federation have also acted that the players will henceforth win as much as the men in the selection.
In Sweden, in the fall of 2020, it was the men's national team that refused to be paid to support the women's team on equal pay.
Despite these advances, other battles remain open. The American players, crowned for the fourth time at the 2019 World Cup, sued their Federation for wage discrimination in March 2019. In May 2020, in an interim judgment, they were dismissed of their main claim concerning the salary equality by Judge Gary Klausner arguing that the plaintiffs had refused, on an unspecified date, an agreement which would have allowed them to be paid fairly with the players of the men's national team (7). The amount at stake was 66 million dollars corresponding to the disparities between the bonuses distributed by Fifa during the men's and women's World Cups, under the law on equal pay and the law on civil rights. Megan Rapinoe then tweeted "We will never stop fighting for EQUALITY." An appeal of the decision was then filed.
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Mara Gomez, first transgender woman to play a professional match.
Mara Gomez will mark football's history forever. Indeed, this 23-year-old Argentinian became the first transgender player to play in a professional football match last december. Playing for Villa San Carlos in the Argentinian First Division, the player was able from the age of 18 to change the information on her identity card. Argentina is one of the pioneer countries in Latin America regarding gender identity, the country having passed a law on this subject in 2012 (8)..
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Stéphanie Frappart, the meteoric rise.
Stéphanie Frappart has experienced a meteoric rise. In 2014, the 37-year-old referee became the first woman to officiate a professional men's football match. She will not stop breaking records thereafter. Indeed, in 2019, she referees a Ligue 1 match making her the first woman to referee a Ligue 1 match. Logically, she is selected to be part of the referees of the 2019 Women's World Cup, and is appointed to referee the final on July 7, 2019 in Lyon. In December 2020, Stéphanie Frappart enters history by refereeing back in time to referee her first men's Champions League match. French arbitration has a bright future ahead of it!.
TV rights on the rise.
After the success and media coverage of the World Cup in 2019, women's football continues to attract broadcasters, and TV rights are on the rise. Proof of this is that the women's D1 (first European championship in terms of TV rights) has been broadcasted internationally since this season. The FFF has in fact signed a partnership agreement with channels in the United States (ESPN), the United Kingdom (BT Sports), Germany (DAZN) and Italy.x2.5! The broadcasters of the last World Cup, the Canal + and TF1 groups (9), will again broadcast the Women's Euro 2021, for which the TV rights have been multiplied by 2.5 compared to the Euro 2017 (13 million in 2021 compared to 5 million euros in 2017). Even if this appears to be minimal compared to the TV rights of men's football, it is clear that finally women's football offers interest to broadcasters.
Women's Olympique Lyonnais even more historic
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7 like the number of Champions League titles won by OL Female. Winner of Wolfsburg by the score of 3-1 in August 2020, the teammates of Wendie Renard won for the 5th time in a row the Champions League. OL Female is the French collective sports club, in all disciplines, which has the most important European records..
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Women's football and cinema.
Olympique Lyonnais was the subject of a documentary: "Les Joueuses #Pas là pour danser".Released in 2020 and directed by Stéphanie Gillard, the documentary presents the 2018-2019 season of Olympique Lyonnais, who achieved that season the triple Championship, Coupe de France and Champions League treble.The pioneer of women's football in France Marinette Pichon will also appear on the big screen. In fact, the director Virginie Verrier will, for her second feature film, adapt the life of this French football icon, who has long been the French team’s top scorer.
The creation of new flagship teams and women's leagues
The year 2020 saw the creation of new renowned women's teams.
After 118 years of existence and the most important European record, Real Madrid created its women's team in 2020, following the acquisition of the women's team from CD Tacon. A galactic project.
In the United States, the Angel City franchise will be launched in early 2022 and will integrate the NWSL. Led by Nathalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Eva Longoria and Serana Williams among others, Angel City is the first group to own a franchise led by women. A team that will one day wear the colors of ALKÉ?
In Japan it's not a team but a league that will be born. The Women Empowerment League will become the new professional women's football league in Japan. The particularity of this league is that each team must have at least 5 players under professional contract not subject to a salary cap.
Conclusion
Women's football has made great strides forward. And more generally ent female sport which continues to grow over time. This is evidenced by the 2024 Olympics, which will be the first to offer full parity between men and women. Despite this, the Covid recalls that this development is fragile, and that there are still many areas to be conquered for a more equal football and where everyone finds their place.
(1) L'Équipe, Coronavirus : la FFF acte la fin de la saison en D1 féminine et National 1, 28/04/20
(2) FIFPro, Global survey shows ongoing impact of Covid-19 pandemic on womenfootballers, 11/11/20
(3) Le Parisien, Football féminin : répartition des 6 millions d’euros d’aide, les clubs «amateurs» de D 1 et D 2 ont été entendus, 9/10/20
(4) Le Sport au Féminin, Covid-19 : Le sport français fragilisé par la chute du nombre de licenciés, 15/11/20
(5) Fondation Jean Jaurès, La Covid a-t-elle tué le football féminin ?, 10/09/20
(6) Franceinfo, La Fifa va imposer un congé maternité pour les footballeuses, 19/11/20
(7) L’Equipe, Etats-Unis : les joueuses déboutées par un juge dans leur demande d'égalité salariale, 02/05/20
(8) Courrier Interntional, La footballeuse transgenre Mara Gómez dispute un premier match historique en Argentine, 08/12/20
(9) Women Sports, “Les droits du foot féminin explosent : TF1 et Canal + achètent l’Euro-2021”, 23/02/21