Women and gender in South African soccer: a brief history

Abstract

This essay traces the history of South African women’s participation in competitive soccer from 1970 to the present and analyses power relations, namely race, gender and class, within the sport. Three distinct periods are identified: (1) emergence and development years from 1970 to 1990; (2) growth and transition years from 1991 to 2000; and (3) institutionalization years from 2001 to the present. This socio‐historical analysis is based on fieldwork in South Africa and relies on qualitative interviews, participant observations and archival documentation. Special attention is given to the shifting racial demographics of women footballers, the influence of feminism and democratization in South Africa on increasing the numbers of girls and women in this masculine flagship sport, globalization of ‘women’s soccer’ and the organizational development in the sport at the local and national levels. Contributions of key administrators and leaders as well as players are briefly discussed.

Notes

1. Roberts, Against the Grain.

2. Hargreaves, ‘Women’s Sport’; Hargreaves, Heroines of Sport; Hargreaves and Jones, ‘South Africa’; Pelak, ‘Negotiating Gender/Race/Class’; Pelak, ‘Local‐Global Processes’; and Roberts, Against the Grain.

3. Alegi, Laduma; Booth, The Race Game; Couzens, ‘An Introduction’; Fjeld, ‘Soccer Rites’; and Thabe, It’s a Goal.

4. Nauright and Chandler, Making Men.

5. Pelak, ‘Athletes as Agents’; Pelak, ‘Negotiating Gender/Race/Class’ and Pelak, ‘Local‐Global Processes’. Additional information about the methodology and data used here can be found in these articles.

6. I put the concept ‘women’s soccer’ in inverted quotes to problematize the concept. It is common for authors to qualify the soccer played by females as ‘women’s soccer’ and that played by males as simply ‘soccer’. Common usage suggests that South African soccer refers exclusively to the men’s game. If one is referring to women’s participation, a feminine qualifier is used. Discursively this constructs the soccer that men play as the ‘real’ soccer and that which the women play as the other or inferior version of the game. In this essay I minimize the use of the feminine qualifier (i.e., women’s soccer) as a way to challenge the notion of women as outsiders to the South African sport of soccer.

7. Collins, Black Feminist Thought; Dewar, ‘Generic Women in Sport’; and Scraton, ‘Reconceptualizing Race’.

8. Pelak, ‘Negotiating Gender/Race/Class’; Pelak, ‘Local‐Global Processes’; Saavedra, ‘Football Feminine’.

9. Baden, Hassim, and Meintjes, Country Gender Profile.

10. Hargreaves, ‘Women’s Sport’.

11. Scraton et al., ‘It’s Still a Man’s Game?’, 99.

12. ‘White Selfishness Must Cease’. Cape Herald, September 16, 1978, 10.

13. Booth, The Race Game.

14. Keim and Qhuma, ‘Winnie’s Ladies Soccer’.

15. Ibid., 84–85.

16. This finding is based on interview data and archival documents gathered in the Western Province.

17. Sport Information and Science Agency, ‘Participation of Women’, 19.

18. Interview with SAFA administrator, Johannesburg, September 12, 2000. Because confidentiality was promised to research participants the names of interviewees are being withheld.

19. Pelak, ‘Negotiating Gender/Race/Class’; Pelak, ‘Local‐Global Processes’.

20. Lemon, ‘Reflections’; McFadden, ‘Nationalism and Gender’; Seidman, ‘Gendered Citizenship’.

21. McFadden, ‘Nationalism and Gender’; Meintjes, ‘Gender, Nationalism’; West, Feminist Nationalism.

22. This finding is consistent with that documented by Hargreaves, ‘The Women’s International Sports Movement’.

23. Hargreaves and Jones, ‘South Africa’; Women and Sport South Africa, ‘History of Women’.

24. Statistics South Africa, ‘Primary Tables’.

25. Interview with national player, Cape Town, July 31, 2000.

26. Alegi, Laduma!; Booth, The Race Game.

27. Alegi, Laduma!.

28. Hong and Mangan, Soccer, Women; Lopez, Women on the Ball; Williams, A Beautiful Game.

29. S. Egunjobi, ‘Now Women Get Chance of Glory: Nations Cup Opens Window of Opportunity for African Stars’. Sunday Times (Johannesburg), November 12, 2000.

30. Interview with SAFA administrator, Johannesburg, July 24, 2000.

31. I. Hawkey, ‘Paine’s Dames Net First Goal Across Sport’s Gender Line’. Sunday Times (Johannesburg), May 30, 1993.

32. L. Mazibuko, ‘Confusion as Too Many Women Take to the Field’. Sunday Times (Johannesburg), September 4, 1994, 24.

33. L. Rulashe, ‘Sex Claim: “We are Innocent”: Soccer Officials Out in the Open’. City Press (Johannesburg), March 30, 1997, 7.

34. L. Alfred, ‘Fran Believes the Sisters should be Doing It For Themselves’. The Sunday Independent (Johannesburg), October 5, 1997, 24.

35. Interview with SAFA administrator, Johannesburg, July 24, 2000.

36. Pickard Commission Report, Pickard Commission of Enquiry.

37. Indaba, a Zulu word, means ‘public gathering’ or ‘meeting’ at which difficult issues are discussed.

38. Lopez, Women on the Ball; Williams, A Beautiful Game.

39. Interview with SAFA administrator, Johannesburg, July 24, 2000.

40. Pelak, ‘Negotiating Gender/Race/Class’.

41. Friedman, ‘Effecting Equality’; Hassim, ‘Voices, Hierarchy’.

42. Interview with SAFA administrator, Johannesburg, June 20, 2003; and interview with national team player, Cape Town, June 15, 2003.

43. T. Ratone, ‘Women Get Big Soccer Boost’. Sunday Times (Johannesburg), December 16, 2001.

44. ‘Women’s Soccer in the Sport Light’.

45. SAFA, ‘ABSA Women’s League Launched’.

46. Lopez, Women on the Ball; Williams, A Beautiful Game; and Hong and Mangan, Soccer, Women.

47. Interview with SAFA administrator, Johannesburg, July 24, 2000.

48. ‘Women’s Soccer in the Sport Light’.

49. The FIFA Football Committee was established in 1998 and aims to protect the future welfare of the game. The Football Committee includes current and past players, referees, coaches, managers, doctors and others directly connected to the game. These ‘guardians of the game’ meet numerous times per year. The current Chair is Franz Bechenbauer.

50. ‘Women’s Soccer in the Sport Light’.

51. Ibid.