--- title: World Cup: Soccer Is Still Out of Reach for Half the World’s Women description: The U.S. women’s soccer team should use their stage to demand that all governments support women in soccer canonical: https://time.com/3949377/world-cup-women-global-equality/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-08T17:40:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:21.509Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Soccer Is Still Out of Reach for Half the World’s Women og:description: The U.S. women’s soccer team should use their stage to demand that all governments support women in soccer og:url: https://time.com/3949377/world-cup-women-global-equality/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde249aad28ceed70/69885a0f0b72e3358c6e4d53/womens-world-cup1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: USA Japan Final FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Soccer Is Still Out of Reach for Half the World’s Women twitter:description: The U.S. women’s soccer team should use their stage to demand that all governments support women in soccer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde249aad28ceed70/69885a0f0b72e3358c6e4d53/womens-world-cup1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Soccer Is Still Out of Reach for Half the World’s Women > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Meet the 23: USA Women's World Cup team [Watch (HLS stream): Meet the 23: USA Women's World Cup team](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zOigpe7t.m3u8) (1:37)  _Published 2015-06-02. Meet the 23 players representing the United States in the 2015 Women's World Cup._ by [Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith](https://time.com/author/the-fuller-project-for-international-reporting/) ## Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith Jul 8, 2015 5:40 PM UTC  The USA team celebrates victory in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 Final between USA and Japan at BC Place Stadium on July 5, 2015 in Vancouver. The USA team celebrates victory in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 Final between USA and Japan at BC Place Stadium on July 5, 2015 in Vancouver. Mike Hewitt—FIFA/Getty Images by [Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith](https://time.com/author/the-fuller-project-for-international-reporting/) ## Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith Jul 8, 2015 5:40 PM UTC Almost [27 million viewers](http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/fifa-womens-world-cup/story/women-s-world-cup-final-seen-by-record-26-7-million-in-united-states-070615) in the U.S. watched the country defeat Japan in a stunning 5-2 victory during the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final Sunday. This was the largest U.S. audience ever to watch a soccer match—a testament to the growing popularity and global power of women’s sports teams. Yet as we watched with our young daughters the game from Turkey, where girls soccer teams are scant and female players [face discrimination and harassment](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/sports/soccer/04soccer.html?pagewanted=all), our enthusiasm was tempered by a stark reality: For many of the world’s women, playing soccer is a distant dream. Across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia, millions of women face legal, cultural, and religious barriers that forbid them from entering the pitch. Even in countries where there are no formal restrictions, women often face death [threats](https://soccerwithoutborders.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/ill-take-the-death-threats/), accusations of unfeminine behavior, and heckling and catcalling from strangers on the sidelines. In some countries, women are even forbidden from entering soccer stadiums just to watch. Can we really celebrate American women as world champs with such an uneven playing field? In Middle Eastern countries including Yemen, Oman, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, nascent women’s national teams confront religious challenges to their participation. [Clerics](https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/02/15/steps-devil/denial-womens-and-girls-rights-sport-saudi-arabia) in Saudi Arabia have said that female sports constitute “steps of the devil” toward immortality. Egyptian women report that family members are often the ones to keep girls off the field, telling them that soccer is [_haram_](http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/womens-soccer-egyptian-men-and-what-is-forbidden/)_,_ forbidden in Islam. Afghan women players have received threatening text messages. Indian women were recently forced off the field after a Muslim cleric issued a [fatwa](http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/footballs-and-fatwas/) against men watching girls play in skirts. In some African countries, women are effectively kept off the field by the lack of sports bras and sanitary napkins, as well as financial unwillingness to support them. Ugandan women’s [under-20 soccer team,](http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=58478) for example, never even made it to the World Cup—their government pulled them from competing at the last hour, citing lack of funds. When women athletes do make it onto the field, they often confront an [onslaught of opinions](http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2012/07/21/olympics-time-focus-sports-not-sex-appeal/L3Eyngog2klZANMBpJ2FSO/story.html?camp=pm) on how they should—or shouldn’t—dress. In countries with hot temperatures, players are often forced to cover up their wrists and legs. In Iran, Singapore, France and elsewhere, women wearing the hijab are not allowed to play. FIFA has played a major part in this unfairness—until 2012, the organization [banned](http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/football/2014/03/fifa-allows-hijab-turban-players-20143113053667394.html) headscarves.  The Fuller Project for International Reporting In South America, the pressure can go the other way. In Brazil, where only about [1% of soccer players](http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-brazil-girls-are-still-left-on-the-sidelines-in-soccer-1403131630) are women, team owners have tried to sexualize female footballers, issuing skimpy uniforms as a tactic to attract crowds. In what is known as one of the world’s most soccer-loving nations, the [law](http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201407081906-0023904) kept women out of soccer until 1979 because it was “incompatible with female nature.” Funding also factors into these unfair practices, with many U.S. women players earning about [99%](http://fusion.net/story/96831/wage-inequality-soccer/) less than men. Some women soccer pros are paid at levels [below the poverty line](http://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a36233/womens-soccer-pay/). The men’s World Cup last year paid out $576 million—nearly [40 times](http://www.politico.eu/article/world-cup-women-pay-gap-gender-equality/) the predicted amount for the women’s World Cup. This year, the U.S. women’s team will receive a total prize of $2 million for winning the World Cup, less than a fourth of what the men’s team received for placing 27th. Sexism around women’s soccer exists in Western countries, too, where women’s soccer has only recently been embraced. A 1921 Football Association edict in the U.K. [banned](http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/feb/11/newsstory.womensfootball) women’s football for 50 years. More recently, lingering sexism reared its head again last week after the association [tweeted](http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/06/england-women-twitter-world-cup-mothers-partners-daughters) that the women’s team, which placed third in the World Cup, would go back to “being mothers, partners and daughters” upon their return. Last year, a group of women including U.S. Women’s National Team player Heather O’Reilly, unsuccessfully sued FIFA over the [artificial turf](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/01/21/378896641/soccer-players-end-lawsuit-over-artificial-turf-at-women-s-world-cup) that they were forced to play on. Reilly told NPR that men refuse to play on fake grass, and that the decision was a “blatant demonstration of FIFA not placing the women side by side with men.” Much has been made of soccer as the great global equalizer, “a common language, a shared culture … an affirmation of identity,” according to Tom Watt, author of _A Beautiful Game_. With a patch of dirt and a ball, young boys from the shantytowns of Brazil or the ghettos of Morocco can become world famous players like Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham. Soccer has an almost myth-making ability to transcend identity and unite the world.  The Fuller Project for International Reporting Why let gender be the remaining barrier? Despite restrictions, more women around the world are taking to the field—and that’s good not just for women but for everyone. In a sport that the U.S. has struggled to dominate globally, women are making the country proud. Soccer can also play a role in reducing obesity and smoking, encouraging teamwork, and increasing confidence. The U.S. women’s soccer team captured the world’s attention—now they should use their stage to demand that all governments support women in soccer. FIFA can be an ally in this—the organization just issued a [report](http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/footballdevelopment/women/02/52/26/49/womensfootballsurvey2014%5Fe%5Fenglish.pdf) on women in soccer, pointing to the urgent need for funding, benefits of increasing the number of licensed players and competitions, and the need to boost the number of female coaches—now only 7% in women’s soccer. We know equalizing funding works: Title IX is credited with ushering in a new generation of female athletes, and women make up more than [40%](http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-brazil-girls-are-still-left-on-the-sidelines-in-soccer-1403131630) of all soccer players in the U.S. U.S. World Cup champion [Briana Scurry](http://time.com/3947113/world-cup-women-players-today/) recently wrote for TIME about how David Letterman called the 1999 U.S. women’s team “babe city.” A lot has changed since then, she said. “We showed the world that women could be powerful, strong, determined, and capable of guiding their own destinies, too. Now women players are more appreciated for their achievements on the field and not for how they look.” Imagine how much more exciting the games would be if every woman around the world could play. _Xanthe Ackerman and Christina Asquith are journalists with The Fuller Project for International Reporting. Fuller Project research fellows Zarifah Mohamed Zein and Ilina Talwar contributed to the reporting. Join the discussion: #LetGirlsLearn._ ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] With every year, the women's game grows so exponentially. We want to be the best. We want to say that we're the best. And now it's about getting it done. I've played with a lot of great players. I've played on a lot of incredible teams. Each team has their own story. We haven't won since 1999. So I think it's very important for us and we want to bring that home to the US. We've got tremendous players and many of them do feel that not having a World Cup on their resume is the missing piece. If you've ever played with me, you know that when World Cups and Olympics happen, I will do whatever it After seeing my third world cup, I'm a veteran. I'm a leader. And just try to carry it around on my shoulders. For us, I think its, we can do anything on the field. I think that all of our assets, if we put them together, and we put our best foot forward we're going to be the number one team in the world. And that's the ultimate goal for this team. We want to win, we want to bring the world cup back to the U. S. It's all I can think about, it's all I want. Let's hope I get it, so I can be happy for the rest of my life The quality that this team has brought the last ten, fifteen years, we're deserving of a World Cup, being so close last time around, there's no looking back now This is it for us, and especially a couple of the veterans who noticed [ INAUDIBLE ]. 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