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11.07.19 13 OPINION Aristea Koukiadaki Geoff Pearson Aristea Koukiadaki and Geoff Pearson are Senior Lecturers at the University of Manchester A s the World Cup has vivid- ly shown, women's football is growing in popularity and status with increasing participation, profession- alisation and media attention across the world. But, in our recent investigation into the women's game, we nd it is still ghting for a stable footing. We surveyed 3,000 players in 33 diff er- ent countries, of whom 60% categorised themselves as professional. What we found was that a professional football career for women is hard to sustain in the face of low pay, a lack of contractual support, and commitments away from the pitch. ere is a need for signifi cant change to the way women footballers are supported to play for club and country alike. Gender inequality What we found was a paradox. On the one hand, there is a growing interest in women's football at both club and in- ternational levels, refl ected in increased media coverage. e World Cup semi-fi - nal between England and the USA at- traced an average audience of 10.3m viewers on the BBC in the UK and 7m viewers on Fox in the US. But, on the other hand, the working conditions in the game are no way near where they should be to refl ect this. Gender inequality is well documented in other sectors of the economy and our study confi rms that football also suff ers in equal, if not greater measure – not only from very low levels of pay but also precarious working conditions and a lack of basic support. At elite level, the process of profes- sionalisation is underway in several countries. FIFA claim that around 30m women play the game globally, and that 5m are registered with a national as- sociation. In its current strategy doc- ument for women's football, the gov- erning body paints a rosy picture of the current reality, describing the sport as "cutting across all boundaries in terms of society, race, religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic circumstances". But our research found that there are signifi cant hurdles to overcome in or- der to make football a secure career for women. We found that 89% of women footballers consider leaving the game early and were looking for opportuni- ties outside the sport, with low pay and precarious contracts playing a signifi - cant role. Low pay In terms of pay, most players received salaries of less than US$1,000 a month and earnings dropped as players got older. e top fi ve countries to "ade- quately pay" their players – enough to cover the expenses incurred from play- ing – include Germany, Uzbekistan, England, Sweden and the US. But 20 to 30% of players in those countries re- ported that they were not paid enough. Of course, this means that female foot- ballers are paid a fraction of their male counterparts. Research from Sporting Intelligence, a consultancy that carries out a big annual survey of global sport- ing salaries, found that the average sal- ary in the English Premier League, for example, is on average 99 times higher than the top paid women counterparts. Women footballers not only face prob- lems around pay, but also a number of challenges around other crucial aspects of their work. ese include the lack of contractual stability and agent support, as well the absence of appropriate child- care. All these expose them to insecure working conditions. In our research, 53% of female foot- ballers didn't have a written contract in place. Although it was true that some women's clubs are providing sick pay for injured players, many clubs are lagging behind. The role of national teams e profi le of national teams and tour- naments such as the World Cup account for much of the growth seen in women's football. But just over a third of players revealed that they received no payment from their national team and some even had to pay themselves to play. Countries where the large majority of players re- ported not being paid to play included countries with developed female foot- ball, including the US (77% not being paid to play) and France (62.5% not be- ing paid to play). Even in cases where players get paid, 42% said they did not get paid enough to cover their expenses. Countries where a signifi cant percentage of play- ers reported being paid adequately in- cluded Portugal (100%), Japan (67%), Italy (60%) and Germany (80%). Daily allowances were modest (US$75) and bonuses for winning a match, although only paid to less than 10% of players, averaged US$754, with the highest win bonus being reported as US$3,000. Since clubs are not paying enough for women to play, there could now be a role for the national teams to provide that support in order to supplement – but not to replace – what clubs are do- ing. is would help more women stay in the game. Women face an uphill struggle to maintain a career in football. Against this challenging picture, it's important that clubs, leagues and national sides explore ways to stabilise the working conditions for female footballers. ey should consider the structures that will enable them to fl ourish – on and off the pitch – alongside their male counter- parts. While there are positives to draw from the fi ndings, with lower levels of discrimination than the men's game, reasonable levels of medical and psy- chological support, and high levels of solidarity, it is clear that women's foot- ball has still got a long way to go. Our message is for everyone involved in women's football – be it FIFA, the regional confederations, national asso- ciations, as well as public policymakers – to take women's football seriously and ensure that more women can enjoy de- cent, fair work conditions as they pur- sue their professional football careers. Women's football is still fighting for survival Team USA celebrates after winning the 2019 Women's World Cup

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