The extra lift from Women鈥檚 World Cup soccer
As a benchmark of social progress, the FIFA Women鈥檚 World Cup that got underway yesterday in New Zealand and Australia has much to applaud. For the first time, six countries will pay their female soccer players the same wages they paid their male counterparts in last year鈥檚 men鈥檚 World Cup.
That represents a hard-won gain. Yet economics is only one measure of value. This year鈥檚 tournament includes some surprising newcomers from countries or regions where women struggle for equality. Their ascendance to the highest level of international competition is evidence of the unique power of sports to uplift cultural attitudes about the worth and dignity of girls.
Take Vietnam, one of eight new teams making a debut this year. When the country鈥檚 Football Federation was established in 1989, girls were an afterthought. On Saturday afternoon New Zealand time (Friday night Eastern time), the women鈥檚 team will take the field against the United States, marking the first time the two countries have ever met in a sports match. The team鈥檚 rise charts a gradual societal shift marked by increased investment in education and opportunities for girls. The players are now national heroes.
鈥淭hey have demonstrated the talents, intelligence, qualities, will and bravery of the Vietnamese people,鈥� Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said.
Nearly 190 countries now have national women鈥檚 soccer teams. China now invests more in women鈥檚 soccer than in its men鈥檚 program. In Morocco, a focus on the women鈥檚 game in recent years by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation has helped transform attitudes across the Arab region. Last year, the country hosted the women鈥檚 Africa Cup of Nations. This year, it sent the first Arab women鈥檚 team to the World Cup.
鈥淪ports don鈥檛 differentiate between genders,鈥� said Idriss Benazzouza, a Moroccan fan who recently聽 took his daughter to see the national women鈥檚 professional team square off against the national armed forces women鈥檚 team. 鈥淚 teach [my daughters] confidence, not fear,鈥� he told Voice of America.
鈥淥nce every four years, we get a chance to celebrate the millions of women and girls who play soccer around the world,鈥� Human Rights Watch wrote during the 2019 Women鈥檚 World Cup. It is 鈥渁 chance to reflect on the fact that in many countries, women and girls have to fight to even get onto the playing field.鈥� Yet once they do, they are capturing hearts and changing minds.
Editor's note:聽The original misstated the time of the match between the United States and Vietnam.聽
