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“I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees

The development of the Women's Super League (WSL) in English football, increased media coverage of the game, and an expansion of grassroots opportunities indicate a bright future for women and girls who want to play. Yet this vision must be tempered against compelling evidence of deep rooted an...

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Autores principales: Drury, Scarlett, Stride, Annette, Fitzgerald, Hayley, Hyett-Allen, Nia, Pylypiuk, Laura, Whitford-Stark, Jodie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8841784/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35174323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.789321
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author Drury, Scarlett
Stride, Annette
Fitzgerald, Hayley
Hyett-Allen, Nia
Pylypiuk, Laura
Whitford-Stark, Jodie
author_facet Drury, Scarlett
Stride, Annette
Fitzgerald, Hayley
Hyett-Allen, Nia
Pylypiuk, Laura
Whitford-Stark, Jodie
author_sort Drury, Scarlett
collection PubMed
description The development of the Women's Super League (WSL) in English football, increased media coverage of the game, and an expansion of grassroots opportunities indicate a bright future for women and girls who want to play. Yet this vision must be tempered against compelling evidence of deep rooted and enduring gender inequalities within the game. This is the case for both players, and women who undertake non-playing roles, which is reflected in the relatively low numbers of women coaches and referees. Whilst The Football Association (The FA) has signalled addressing these inequalities as a key priority, critics argue that such efforts amount to superficial and limited efforts to support meaningful change. This paper departs from a concern with playing the game and responds to calls for more research to explore the experiences of women involved in football in non-playing roles. More specifically, it focuses on women coaches and referees, and addresses the following question: how do women in positions of power in football negotiate their place in what remains a distinctly male-dominated profession? In addressing this question, we take a theoretical position located at the nexus between radical and post-structural feminism, acknowledging the significance of structural power relations and individual agency in shaping daily lived social realities. Data were generated from interviews with 14 women coaches and 10 women referees. These interviews explored the structure and culture of the game and its impact on women's experiences of men's and women's competitive and grassroots football. Through a rigorous process of thematic analysis, three themes were identified: gendered entry into football careers; reinforcement of women's difference on the football field; and coping strategies for remaining in the game. Centralising the women's voices in this research highlights the insidious and persistent nature of gendered microaggressions, the sexism of football culture, and the ways in which these women negotiate this masculine terrain in their pursuit of being coaches and referees. “Andy Gray and Richard Keys hauled off air for sexist comments” (The Guardian, 24 January, 2011) “Crystal Palace Women goalkeeper accuses clubs of ignoring FA protocols after she was subjected to sexist abuse” (The Telegraph, 16 January, 2020) “Football manager demands ban on women referees” (The Guardian, 12 November, 2006) “Richard Scudamore sexism scandal intensifies as conspirator in sexist emails investigated by own law firm” (The Telegraph, 16 May, 2014) “Soccer chief's plan to boost women's game? Hotpants” (The Guardian, 16 January, 2004) “Women in Football survey a damning indictment of sexism in the workplace” (HRreview, 11 March, 2014) “Clattenburg criticised for claim female referees must pick career or children” (The Telegraph, 1 October, 2021)
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spelling pubmed-88417842022-02-15 “I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees Drury, Scarlett Stride, Annette Fitzgerald, Hayley Hyett-Allen, Nia Pylypiuk, Laura Whitford-Stark, Jodie Front Sports Act Living Sports and Active Living The development of the Women's Super League (WSL) in English football, increased media coverage of the game, and an expansion of grassroots opportunities indicate a bright future for women and girls who want to play. Yet this vision must be tempered against compelling evidence of deep rooted and enduring gender inequalities within the game. This is the case for both players, and women who undertake non-playing roles, which is reflected in the relatively low numbers of women coaches and referees. Whilst The Football Association (The FA) has signalled addressing these inequalities as a key priority, critics argue that such efforts amount to superficial and limited efforts to support meaningful change. This paper departs from a concern with playing the game and responds to calls for more research to explore the experiences of women involved in football in non-playing roles. More specifically, it focuses on women coaches and referees, and addresses the following question: how do women in positions of power in football negotiate their place in what remains a distinctly male-dominated profession? In addressing this question, we take a theoretical position located at the nexus between radical and post-structural feminism, acknowledging the significance of structural power relations and individual agency in shaping daily lived social realities. Data were generated from interviews with 14 women coaches and 10 women referees. These interviews explored the structure and culture of the game and its impact on women's experiences of men's and women's competitive and grassroots football. Through a rigorous process of thematic analysis, three themes were identified: gendered entry into football careers; reinforcement of women's difference on the football field; and coping strategies for remaining in the game. Centralising the women's voices in this research highlights the insidious and persistent nature of gendered microaggressions, the sexism of football culture, and the ways in which these women negotiate this masculine terrain in their pursuit of being coaches and referees. “Andy Gray and Richard Keys hauled off air for sexist comments” (The Guardian, 24 January, 2011) “Crystal Palace Women goalkeeper accuses clubs of ignoring FA protocols after she was subjected to sexist abuse” (The Telegraph, 16 January, 2020) “Football manager demands ban on women referees” (The Guardian, 12 November, 2006) “Richard Scudamore sexism scandal intensifies as conspirator in sexist emails investigated by own law firm” (The Telegraph, 16 May, 2014) “Soccer chief's plan to boost women's game? Hotpants” (The Guardian, 16 January, 2004) “Women in Football survey a damning indictment of sexism in the workplace” (HRreview, 11 March, 2014) “Clattenburg criticised for claim female referees must pick career or children” (The Telegraph, 1 October, 2021) Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-01-31 /pmc/articles/PMC8841784/ /pubmed/35174323 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.789321 Text en Copyright © 2022 Drury, Stride, Fitzgerald, Hyett-Allen, Pylypiuk and Whitford-Stark. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Sports and Active Living
Drury, Scarlett
Stride, Annette
Fitzgerald, Hayley
Hyett-Allen, Nia
Pylypiuk, Laura
Whitford-Stark, Jodie
“I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees
title “I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees
title_full “I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees
title_fullStr “I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees
title_full_unstemmed “I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees
title_short “I'm a Referee, Not a Female Referee”: The Experiences of Women Involved in Football as Coaches and Referees
title_sort “i'm a referee, not a female referee”: the experiences of women involved in football as coaches and referees
topic Sports and Active Living
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8841784/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35174323
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.789321
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