HomeThe challenges of feminisation of football and other ball sports: issues, good practices and new representations
The challenges of feminisation of football and other ball sports: issues, good practices and new representations
Les défis de la féminisation du football et autres sports de ballon : enjeux, bonnes pratiques et nouvelles représentations
Published on Thursday, November 03, 2022
Abstract
The aim of this conference is to update and renew our understanding of women’s football and other ball sports. The aim is to analyse the issues at stake in terms of good practice and to observe the new representations that they give rise to. Beyond the obstacles and constraints that weigh on women footballers, or even ball sportswomen, the actions and experiences that allow them to develop will be defined and commented on. Both multidisciplinary and indisciplinary, this conference brings together researchers from various backgrounds as well as experts and professionals working in the field of women’s sports, including football. The aim is to change the focus and emphasise what works and what can be implemented in the long term.
Announcement
Argument
In 2019, the Football World Cup revealed to the general public a sport officially practised by women since 1917: football.
Sweeping aside prejudices and sexist remarks, the women's teams were supported, respected, and they brilliantly defended the equality between women and men registered in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Rule 2 of the Olympic Charter.
Since this widespread media coverage, symposiums, studies, congresses, sporting and cultural events, in the world of research or in the field, and numerous initiatives have identified and forcefully denounced stereotypes, clichés, inequalities and discrimination in order to fight against humiliation and injustice in everyday life.
In this sense, a European project EWinS, European Women in Sport, financed by the European programme Erasmus+ Sport, was born in 2020. While noting a certain immobility in the field, this project aims to gather and promote good practices intended to combat the fact that women's football is still a minor sport in general, and in Europe in particular.
There is no doubt that there has been an overall increase in women's participation in sport in Europe. However, some obstacles and imbalances remain. There is not always an adequate environment in which women athletes can develop their full potential. Imbalances still exist between women's and men's practices in terms of development of practices, numbers, status, resources allocated or visibility. Some European countries still lag far behind in terms of women's access to certain sports. This is particularly the case for sports with a masculine connotation such as football or other ball sports such as rugby.
Another objective of the project is to overcome the lack of pooled data on women's practices at the European level, and this starts even at the national level where data are not always available.
Beyond the appropriate environment, women's specificities are not always taken into account, in terms of, for example, performance management. This is the case for the menstrual cycle, which is still a taboo in some countries, as well as the management of pregnancy, both in terms of physical support and its economic and family consequences (maternity leave, childcare, etc.).
It is in this sense that the project addresses the issue of the feminisation of sports practices. It is not a question of locking women into a world apart. The use of the concept of feminisation here is in line with the recommendations of the European Union, where it is defined as: "The idea of a march towards equality, equality in rights, in numbers, but also the removal of legal obstacles and above all the social and economic evolution that favours the "catching up" of a historical delay". The EWinS project therefore aims to be part of this perspective.
Beyond the findings and the various studies on the representations and stereotypes linked to women's sports, the intention of our congress is:
- to share the results of the work of the EWinS project members in the run-up to the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games;
- on the other hand, to inventory, discover, imagine and disseminate all the practices, actions or new imaginaries and representations implemented in Europe and in the world that are likely to allow all women (sportswomen and para-sportswomen) to practice football or the sport of their choice, while benefiting, whatever their age or status, from adequate conditions for learning, training, salary, health, visibility and media coverage.
Our call is addressed to researchers as well as to actors in the field or those close to it.
In the course of our extensive survey, we were able to meet many players, coaches, club and federation leaders, sponsors and institutions. There were so many experiences and suggestions of good practices already implemented or to be implemented, new representations to be discovered, challenges to be taken up for and in favour of the development of football on three levels:
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Business models and daily organisation
The global aspect of governance, which refers to the organisation of funding, infrastructures, the taking into account of disability issues, sustainable development and partnerships deployed around women's practices: what are the relevant actions implemented through these different aspects? In short, the aim here is to highlight good practices around a relevant and viable economic model.
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Development and performance management of sportswomen
Both in grassroots and elite sport with regard to e.g. the menstrual cycle, managing motherhood, but also how performance can be combined with reconciling family life and sport to live life to the fullest and all the approaches that can help to improve their performance.
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Forms of communication and promotion of football or other women's ball sports
Good practices at all levels of practice, in particular the way in which the visibility of sportswomen is organised by clubs, the place of digital technology or more generally the strategies and policies for the promotion of sportswomen, could be proposed here.
The aim of this conference is not only to take stock of research, good practices and new ideas, but also to look at future or current experiences.
To this end, all women's ball sports will be considered and the diversity will enrich the reflection.
By combining scientific discourse and action, this congress aims to both promote real equality between women and men and work towards a more inclusive, ecological and supportive society.
The congress is therefore open to all disciplines (sociology, psychology, history, literature, physiology, economics, management, etc.) and to all professionals or experts in football and other ball sports played by women.
Submission guidelines
A title and an abstract of approximately 100 words in French or English, together with a brief bio-bibliographical note (the bibliography is optional) should be sent to the following address: colloque-ewins2023@ileps.fr
before 15 February 2023.
The congress will take place entirely on site.
Conference language: French and English
Publications of the proceedings
The congress will result in two publications:
- A publication in French by Editions Le Manuscrit
- A publication in English, possibly in the Women Sport and Physical Activity Journal
Organisation Committee
Marie-Stéphanie Abouna ; Sylvie Brodziak ; Mélina Boetti ; Anais Burghart-Roessle, Anne Guilbaut, Gilles Lecocq ; Stefania Marcassa ; Narjiss Mekaoui ; Addi Mireles Puga, Alessandra Palermo ; Candice Prevost ; Mame-Fatou Séne
Scientific committee
Marie-Stéphanie Abouna (France) ; Rafa Akoum (France) ; Alejandro Aleiva (Espagne) ; Boryana Angelova-Igova (Bulgarie) ; Alexander Blackett (Angeterre) ; Sylvie Brodziak (France) ; Álvaro Díaz Aroca (Espagne) ; Jacky Forsyth (Angeterre) ; Oumaya Hidri Neys (France) ; PierreAlban Lebecq (France) ; Gilles Lecocq (France) ; Julien Longhi (France) ; Stefania Marcassa (France) ; Narjiss Mekaoui (France) ; Korneliya Naydenova (Bulgarie) ; Alessandra Palermo (France) ; Tomasz Palka (Poland) ; Fatia Terfous (France) ; Magdalena Żmuda-Pałka (Pologne).
Organisation
From 7 to 9 June 2023
CY Cergy Paris Université - CY-ILEPS
AGORA, EA 7392
UMR -CNRS Héritages: Patrimoine/s, Culture/s, Création/s
UMR 8184 THEMA
EWinS project Consortium (https://e-wins.eu/) : CY Cergy Paris Université and CY Ileps (France), Staffordshire University (England), AWF- University of Physical Education in Krakow (Poland), UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (Spain), KS Pradinczanka (Poland), FC Hertta (Finland), Little Miss Soccer (France), NSA National Sports Academy (Bulgaria)
Indicative bibliography
Abouna,M-S. (2018) « Internet et mise en visibilité du football féminin en France : entre avancées et paradoxes », Communiquer [En ligne], 22 |. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/communiquer.2576
Aoki, K., Crumbach, S., Naicker, C., Schmitter, S., & Smith, N. (2010). Identifying best practice in women’s football - case study in the European context. www.redcapfoundation.org
Appleby, K. M., & Leslie A. Fisher. (2009). " Running in and out of Motherhood' : Elite Distance Runners' Experiences of Returning to Competition after Pregnancy". Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal 18 (1) : 317. doi:10.1123/wspaj.18.1.3.
Arrondel, L. & Duhautois, R. (2020). Comme les garçons ? L'économie du football féminin. Editions Rue d'Ulm.
Berlion, D. (2019). Fan de foot, spécial mondial féminin, Paris, Larousse, 2019.
Clark John S., Apostolopoulou, A. & Gladden J.M. (2009). Real Women Watch Football: Gender Differences in the Consumption of the NFL Super Bowl Broadcast, Journal of Promotion Management, 15:1-2, 165-183, DOI: 10.1080/10496490902837510
Federation Internationale de Football Association. (2018). “Women’s Football Strategy.” https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/baafcb84f1b54a8/original/z7w21ghir8jb9tguvbcq-pdf.pdf.
Football par et pour les femmes. STAPS, n° 131, Be Boeck Supérieur, 2021/1, dossier coordonné par Cécile Ottogalli-Mazzacavallo, Virginie Nicaise, Guillaume Bodet.
Gaillard, C. (2019). La grande histoire des Bleues : l'histoire du foot au féminin, Paris, Hachette pratique.
Leslie-Walker, A. & Mulvenna, C. (2022). The Football Association's Women’s Super League and female soccer fans: fan engagement and the importance of supporter clubs, Soccer & Society, 23:3, 314-327, DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2022.2037218
Keyser, A. & Nestoret Ontanon, M. (2012) Foot féminin : la femme est l'avenir du foot, Lormont, Le Bord de l'Eau.
Meier, H. E., Strauss, B., & Riedl, D. (2017). Feminization of sport audiences and fans? Evidence from the German men’s national soccer team. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 52(6), 712–733. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690215612457
Tekavc, J., Wylleman, P. & Cecić Erpič, S. (2020). “Becoming a Mother-Athlete: Female Athletes’
Transition to Motherhood in Slovenia.” Sport in Society 23 (4): 734–750. Doi:10.1080/17430437.2
020.1720200.
Travert, M. & Soto, H. (2009). Une passion féminine pour une pratique masculine : le football. Sociétés, 103, 85-95. https://doi.org/10.3917/soc.103.0085
Valenti, M, Peng, Q., & Rocha, C. (2021) Integration between women’s and men’s football clubs: a comparison between Brazil, China and Italy, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 13:2, 321-339, DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2021.1903967
Subjects
- Sociology (Main category)
- Mind and language > Information > Information sciences
- Society > Sociology > Gender studies
- Mind and language > Language > Literature
- Society > Sociology > Sport and recreation
- Society > Economics > Labour, employment
- Society > History > Women's history
- Mind and language > Representation
Places
- CY Cergy Paris Université - 33 Bd du Port
Cergy-Pontoise, France (95) - Maison internationale de la recherche - 5 mail Gay-Lussac
Neuville-sur-Oise, France (95)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Attached files
Keywords
- féminisation, football, sport de ballon, bonne pratique, nouvelle représentation
Contact(s)
- Sylvie Brodziak
courriel : sylvie [dot] brodziak [at] gmail [dot] com - Marie-Stéphanie Abouna
courriel : ms [dot] abouna [at] ileps [dot] fr
Reference Urls
Information source
- Marie-Stéphanie Abouna
courriel : ms [dot] abouna [at] ileps [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« The challenges of feminisation of football and other ball sports: issues, good practices and new representations », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, November 03, 2022, https://doi.org/10.58079/19va