| Dear Some View on the World readers
Ecstasy. Records tumbled, emotions raged and hearts burst on Sunday evening as England, with a first international goal from Chloe Kelly, defeated the eight-times champions Germany to secure a first major trophy for the Lionesses – and England’s first since 1966. Finally, after 56 years of hurt, the women brought it home.
I hesitated to focus on the Euros in this week’s newsletter. Football, after all, feels like a triviality compared to so many other stories making headlines. In other recent emails we have focused on such urgent issues as the climate crisis, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, political scandals at home and abroad, press freedom, and food shortages.
But the truth is that sport, and football, is a very powerful thing. The progress made by the sporting world is vital – and it manifests in other aspects of society far beyond football, informing the role models our children have and the way we perceive women.
Studies have repeatedly shown that few things boost self-confidence like engagement in group sport. Our football writer Suzanne Wrack wrote beautifully earlier this year about how the sport shaped her and gave her a sense of purpose and self-belief.
And as Gaby Hinsliff put it in her most recent column, “the sight of England’s women quietly nailing what the men have been trying and failing to do for so long, on a fraction of the money and with virtually none of the drama, evokes a rare and very specific kind of satisfaction.”
It’s not a stretch to link progress on the pitch with progress in society. In the last year alone, we have reported on the rights groups who are fighting for women to be heard on climate, with gender parity in climate leadership estimated to be achieved only in 2068 – and why diverse participation leads to more robust solutions. As the world faces a plethora of crises, gender equality in leadership roles is something more and more are calling for.
And the message of the Lionesses’ success is surely that women can be powerful, strong and fiercely competitive without being branded bitches; that wanting to be an alpha female at the top of your game is something to be celebrated, not crushed out of girls at the earliest opportunity.
But the lesson is also, of course, that individual hard work by itself isn’t always enough; that progress requires dismantling the structural barriers holding women back.
In the world of sport, noone can now dredge up the tired old suggestion that people simply aren’t interested in watching women’s football. Not after Sunday. After all sorts of TV viewing and attendance records tumbled – and 87,000 turned up at Wembley.
Beyond that though, as we wrote in a recent editorial, “this summer of the Lionesses achieved a parity of esteem and respect in a world that men fenced off as their own for so long”. Both before and after Sunday’s final, England’s impressive captain, Leah Williamson, expressed a hope that the past few weeks can be transformational not only for women’s football, but for wider gender equality.
What’s more, when Chloe Kelly celebrated her winning goal by whipping off her shirt and racing gleefully around the field in her sports bra, it was a thrillingly unfettered moment of glee; a rare instance of a woman’s body evoking athletic skill and power, not pliant, pouting sexiness. It showed the liberating feeling of stripping down to your sports bra and celebrating like noone is watching, even when millions are.
Sophie Zeldin-O’Neill
Deputy Membership Editor
The Guardian |
Some View on the World 