Our Orange Lionesses have qualified for the Football World Cup, but where the supermarkets of our national men's team have been stunting with orange knick-knacks for weeks in advance, there is now little fuss in the country. Why actually? And how is it possible that we are only now participating for the first time when football is our most popular sport?
In the Netherlands football country, most people immediately think of football when you talk about the World Cup or European Championship. Men understand football. The fact that countless women kick a ball just as fanatically and talentedly is generally taken a lot less seriously. How is that possible? Martine Prange investigates the social impact of women's football in the Netherlands. To do so, she looks at the history of women's football and at philosophical theories, among other things. Prange is not only a former professional football player; she combined playing football with a philosophy study. She is currently assistant professor of Philosophy at Leiden University.
In the past, Martine Prange has been involved with, among other things, the conflict thinking of philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). According to Kant, there are also disadvantages to peace:in peacetime there are no conflicts and with that sluggishness our development also disappears. People need conflict to grow, push boundaries, solve problems and move forward. Prange translates this philosophy into contemporary women's football.
“Sport is a form of what I call 'creative conflict'. You literally and figuratively collide with your opponent on the football field. There is social resistance for girls off the field. Football has always been primarily a men's sport. Now that is slowly changing and I want to know what that acceptance on the field means for the development of talented girls. Resistance strengthens character and is necessary for quality improvement. Pushing your limits, pushing yourself. Everyone in sports knows that's how it works. I think that many top athletes from the past have become so strong precisely because they had to fight against that social resistance. But I also want to know what it says about our society that those women had to fight all the time for acceptance and their place on the football field. What it says about emancipation in the Netherlands.”
Do you think the situation is bad with emancipation in the Netherlands? “Internationally, countries like Malta and Cyprus are doing better. If I only watch football, it gets better on the field. There are many clubs with girls' teams or mixed teams and the number of female soccer players is growing rapidly. Women's football is the fastest growing sport in the world; in the Netherlands too. But there is still great resistance at the administrative level. Football club boards need to invest serious money if they believe that women should be given the same opportunities as men. And in a country that dares to call itself emancipated and progressive, equal opportunities are a right for everyone.”
That equality is still a long way off. Although there has been a professional competition since 2012 in which major clubs such as Ajax and FC Twente participate with their women's teams, most ladies are paid no more than an expense allowance.
Prange:“We also investigate the degree and development of professionalization and media attention within women's football. Female professional football players in the Netherlands are forced to take a part-time job or study in addition to playing football because they are not paid enough. That is not only a sharp contrast to the male football players, it also encourages good women to go abroad. All clubs in the Premier League must pay their women enough to live on. This way they can fully concentrate on football and develop their talents to the fullest.”
“In addition, more media attention must be paid to women's football to show the public that this is serious top sport. The results of the professional competition are not even standard in the newspaper! Matches are not broadcast on TV, so there is currently no major sponsor for women's football. Thus it remains a vicious circle. Women's football is growing fast, but you have to be able to keep the promise that the little girls of today can become professionals."
How is it possible that football was only a men's sport for so long? “Sparta was the first to have a women's team in 1896. However, the KNVB has fought against women's football for 75 years and excluded female football teams from the official competitions and championships. Women's football was seen as distasteful and dangerous for their fertility. The woman's place was at home, taking care of her family. The Second Feminist Wave (1965-1985) was very important for women's football. The struggle for an equal position of men and women in society also caused a change in sport. The KNVB could no longer ignore women and recognized women's football in 1971."
You have been working on this research since 2013:what do you notice? “Emancipation is going slower than I thought. Girls playing soccer on the street still encounter a lot of resistance from their environment, which shocked me. It is also striking that subsidies for projects to allow loitering youths to play football are withdrawn more quickly when it comes to girls:they are a lesser risk group for safety than boys, who radicalize more quickly or fall into criminal behavior.”
“Furthermore, there is mainly a male training framework:we lack female trainers who can be a role model for the girls. Things like tactics are the same for boys and girls because football is football, but when a woman trains them, the girls see how far they can go in their sport. In addition, there is too little room for women in the management layer, which has a negative effect on the development of women's football."
“Emancipation is not complete as long as we find men more credible than women, we find more important or better what men do and pay them more for it. Whether you are a top athlete, administrator or scientist. It sounds very medieval but it still is. When I played football I get the comments that I played like a man:this was meant as a compliment.”
For the first time in history, the Dutch women's soccer team has qualified for the Women's World Cup starting on June 7 in Canada. How important is this World Cup for the emancipation of women's football? Prange:“I hope we survive the first round; that's really important. It would help a lot to increase public interest if they perform well. Not only showing good results, but also good play. DE NOS broadcasts the opening match, all Dutch matches and the final. The unfortunate thing is that they can't be seen until late at night due to the time difference with Canada."