Sexism in Early Women’s Soccer

For the two readings assigned for this week, one of the threads between the two readings that stuck out to me the most was the practice of sidelining the roles that women had filled in for when the men had gone to war which would later apply to women’s sports as well. One of the reasons that this occurred is mentioned in both of the readings as being the preservation of women’s “fragile bodies” and womanly qualities. Playing soccer as a professional for women was looked down upon by both England and the United States. As more and more women had the chance to pursue further education in the 20th century, their opportunities to participate in sports increased as well. Educators in the United States pushed intramural sports over intercollegiate competition because they believed that intercollegiate competition would have a negative impact on women’s sports. The popularity of women’s soccer in England threatened the revenues of men’s soccer, which was looking to expand their Football League from the two existing divisions in 1921 to include a division three north and division three south. Clubs in England were asked to withdraw pitches from female teams and the Football Association deemed that soccer was unsuitable for “delicate female frames,” while also declaring that there was too much money in the expenses of players and clubs which provided danger in the sense of avoiding professionalism in a time period where England favored the amateur. These efforts led to the belief that women’s soccer was unappealing and could not bring in spectators although that would inevitably turn out to be untrue. During the first World War, while the men had gone off to fight, women stepped in to fill the roles that the men had left behind. In the United States, the Ogden (UT) Standard had published photographs that contrasted the roles of women in the US versus the roles that women were filling in Europe, with headlines that stated things like “Women War Workers are Taking Lead in All Masculine Sports” and “French girls, doing men’s work now, play men’s games.” These details from the two articles highlight the sexist nature in which women’s soccer was perceived and although these perceptions had negative impacts, they did not fully stop the growth of women’s soccer.