A Woman's Place is on the Football Field: the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup

19-07-2023

Laura Hochheim Thomé 

Women’s Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence.

Women's football has historically been marginalised, undervalued, and discriminated against. While the men's FIFA World Cup has already had 22 editions, the FIFA Women's World Cup will be held for the ninth time in 2023. This year, starting from July 20 up until August 20, the tournament will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand and will have the participation of 32 teams (Zalcman, 2023). It is set to become one of the most attended women's sporting events in history, with over a million tickets sold (Guzman, 2023).

During the 20th century, women's football was banned in various nations, including Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The situation started to change in the 1980s with the end of the sport's prohibition and the beginning of it's regulation.The first women's global tournament did not take place until 61 years later than the first men's tournament. The FIFA Women's World Cup was first hosted in China in 1991, and since then it has taken place every four years. However, even today, female players are seen as inferior to their male counterparts and are often not treated with the same prestige and professionalism (Zalcman, 2023), and the cause of this can lies in patriarchy and gender inequality. 

Sexism produces a huge disparity in investment between men and women football, which can be clearly seen in the players salary differences. Taking Brazil as an example, Marta, one of the best and highest-paid brazilian female players in the world, earns around €340,000 per season. On the other hand, the Brazilian player Neymar earns €91.5 million per season. Comparing the salaries, Marta earns 125 times less than Neymar, which means 0.3% of his annual income (Estadão Conteúdo, 2023; O Globo, 2021). Another example is the Norwegian player Ada Hegerberg, elected the best in the world in 2018, who receives €400,000 per season, 325 times less than Messi. According to a survey carried out in 2019 on football salaries, it was found that the sum of the five highest salaries in women's football totals to € 1.79 million. That's not even a tenth of the salary of the fifth-highest-paid player, Gareth Bale, who earns €40.2 million (O Globo, 2021). 

Not limited to salaries, a lack of investment is also noted in the final prize for the World Cup. This year, the FIFA Women's World Cup total prize money for the 32 teams will be $110 million, which corresponds to three times more than the previous edition, yet, still behind the men's tournament prize. The last men's World Cup in 2022, held in Qatar, had a total prize pool of $440 million (AJLabs, 2023). 

According to Professor Vivian Almeida, the main argument used to justify this inequality is that women's football is less profitable. However, she claims that "the players earn less because they participate in a market that generates lower compensation, or is it the market that pays less because they are women?" (O Globo, 2021). 

The reality experienced by women's football is rooted in gender inequality, and it is about time that society starts giving the appropriate recognition to women's football, as a woman's place is wherever she wants to be. 

Sources and further readings:

AJLabs (July 17, 2023). How much do you know about the FIFA Women's World Cup?. Retrieved on July 19, 2023 from https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/longform/2023/7/17/how-much-do-you-know-about-the-fifa-womens-world-cup 

Estadão Conteúdo (July 6, 2023). Salário de Marta é quase 125 vezes menor do que o de Neymar; veja valores. Retrieved on July 19, 2023 from https://istoedinheiro.com.br/salario-de-marta-e-quase-125-vezes-menor-do-que-o-de-neymar-veja-valores/ 

FIFA (2023). FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. Retrieved on July 19, 2023 from  https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023?intcmp=(p_fifaplus)_(d_)_(c_webburger-fwwc2023)_(sc_fwwc-2023)_(ssc_)_(da_07072023)_(l_en) 

Guzman, C. (June 23, 2023). How the Women’s World Cup Evolved Into What It Is Today. Retrieved on July 19, 2023 from https://time.com/6289539/womens-world-cup-2023-history/ 

O Globo (January 18, 2021). Marta ganga menos de 1% do salário de Neymar. Bolsonaro diz que é o mercado, mas não é verdade. Entenda. Retrieved on July 19, 2023 from https://oglobo.globo.com/celina/marta-ganha-menos-de-1-do-salario-de-neymar-bolsonaro-diz-que-o-mercado-mas-nao-verdade-entenda-24843971

Zalcman F. (June 21, 2023). Copa do Mundo Feminina: quando foi disputada a primeira edição e quem ganhou? Retrieved on July 19, 2023 from  https://olympics.com/pt/noticias/copa-mundo-feminina-primeira-edicao-quem-ganhou