Women in Argentinian clubs: ethnographic notes about football players and politics

NEMESIA HIJÓS; JULIA HANG

Lyon

Otro; 12ème Colloque International Football et Recherches "Football par et pour les femmes. État des lieux et perspectives"; 2019

Université de Lyon1

The upcoming 2019 Women´s World Cup in France provides an interesting backdrop for an in-depth analysis of an underdeveloped and historically marginalized women´s football in Argentina. Following Argentina´s participation in the 2018 Women´s Copa América in Chile, the precarious conditions faced by the country´s female football players were exposed as never before, drawing attention from major national and international news outlets. Through publications on social media and interviews with the media, national team players criticized the scant support they receive from the Argentine Football Association (AFA), reinforcing the cultural conception of football in Argentina as a space governed exclusively by and for men. These demonstrations increased media coverage, and new gender-equity policies imposed by the sport´s international governing bodies, seem to indicate that women´s football is reaching a breaking point. Accompanied by the feminist movements sweeping Latin America (especially "Ni Una Menos") and local organizations challenging the nation´s corrupt and outdated football association, the actors of women´s football in Argentina (players, coaches, politicians, and even a few club directors) are organizing for improvements in a variety of areas, such as opportunities for young girls in youth divisions, better coordination of women´s leagues around the country, inclusion of women on club and association executive committees, and the eventual professionalization of the discipline. Moreover, this dispute has gained momentum through social movements and has driven to the emergence of gender areas in different clubs, in order to reconsider traditional women´s role in (historically masculine) institutions and promote new ways of participation, even knowing that they exercise power outside the spaces of leadership. Following Dora Barrancos (2010; 2014), sociologist and historian that conceptualizes the emergence of feminist movements and activism in Argentina, with this presentation we hope to shed light on the struggles and progress of women´s participation in traditionally androcentric sports practice. In Argentina, the "modern woman" was characterized by physical, intellectual and moral weakness, as well as excessive sentimentality, and her fundamental functions were motherhood and family care, which were believed to be constitutive of the feminine essence. This feminine identity, although outdated, is still recognized in contemporary Argentine society, and in the sports field in general and continues to maintain barriers and around the full participation of women in sports. The massiveness acquired by the fourth wave of feminism articulate the demand for the right to abortion and also the professionalization of women´s football added to the demands for gender equality. This paper is based on our anthropological fieldwork in sports clubs and football institutions in Argentina. Given that our main methodological strategy is ethnography, we analyze our anthropological experiences with football players and politics, interviews with main actors of women´s football in our country, and observations as well as representations in news outlets and on social media.