More than 2 billion people were expected to have tuned in. About 2 million attended matches in person. Both figures are records. The FIFA Women’s World Cup generated more than US$570 million to break even.
So how much more convincing does FIFA president Gianni Infantino need that women deserve pay parity? More importantly, how much more convincing do women have to do?
In comments on Friday, two days before the final, Infantino said women “have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do” to achieve pay equality.
Illustration: Mountain People
His comments instantly drew ire from players and on social media.
It was the trite, old message that it is still up to women to prove themselves.
This was a golden opportunity to leverage the undeniable success of the tournament that was held in Australia and New Zealand to telegraph a message of acceptance that women are world-class competitors in sports traditionally dominated by men.
Instead, once again, the ball was kicked (no pun intended) to the women’s end.
“Just keep pushing, keep the momentum going, keep dreaming,” Infantino said.
Nothing about it is time for men’s attitudes to change, because if there ever was a time to do that, this was it.
The issue goes beyond sport. To be fair, Infantino has been calling for greater financial commitment to the women’s game. Prize money for this Women’s World Cup exceeded US$150 million, up from US$30 million in 2019 — yet still far short of the US$440 million pot distributed at the men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar last year.
FIFA earned US$7.5 billion in revenue from the Qatar event, which should be read as an indication of the enormous growth potential the women’s game has.
Even if Infantino’s comments were not intended in the spirit they were taken, they still offer a glimpse into the attitudes men in positions of authority hold toward truly recognizing women as equal. Not to mention the sexism that still exists, as the kiss Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales gave to player Jenni Hermoso that briefly overshadowed Spain’s defeat of England on Sunday reminded us.
Women keep being told that they must lean in. They have been doing just that for the past decade, and yet progress toward parity is advancing at a snail’s pace.
The World Economic Forum estimated in its Global Gender Gap Report 2023 that it would take 131 years to achieve political, social and economic parity.
It said that the overall rate of change had slowed down following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even reverting back to the time horizon of 100 years to parity projected in the 2020 would require a significant acceleration of progress,” it said.
Women are powerhouses. This year, they have been rocking the global entertainment and sports worlds on an unprecedented scale. Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is on track to gross more than US$1 billion. The singer and songwriter’s economic impact is so great that she earned a mention in the US Federal Reserve’s beige book of economic conditions.
The Barbie movie smashed US$1 billion in global box-office sales, making director Greta Gerwig the first female sole director to achieve that feat, and Margot Robbie, the star of the movie who also signed on as a producer, a formidable force in Hollywood.
The World Cup has shown that women can draw a crowd, that their athletic prowess more than matches that of men. The record 32 teams that competed have inspired young girls — and boys — and showed them what they can be. That they can dream big. It has given them world-class role models.
Its success went beyond sports or soccer fans. In Australia, the national team, the Matildas, brought a country together, and prompted the government to give a A$200 million (US$128.6 million) funding boost to ride the momentum.
Companies can also learn from the event. Team skills displayed during the tournament are invaluable as women try to navigate the corporate landscape. In a 2020 report, Ernst & Young found that 94 percent of women in the C-suite played sport.
“With their problem-solving skills and team-building experiences ... [they] are uniquely positioned to lead in the corporate world,” the report said.
Money talks in sport, and probably nowhere more so than in soccer, where superstar players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo get paid mind-blowing amounts. Like in the corporate world, women’s soccer is far from achieving anywhere near that sort of parity.
The most successful women’s soccer tournament in the world should have been the forum to double down on support to get there, not suggest that women still need to persuade those who make decisions. In a sport where brand advertising and merchandise sales are of utmost importance, it is also worth remembering that the spending power of women should not be underestimated.
It is a chicken-and-egg situation. Amanda Staveley, the co-owner of Newcastle United, told Bloomberg News that there was a significant lack of commercial revenue, despite all the success women are having in the sport.
However, she added: “We, as owners, need to keep putting our women at the heart of our plan and eventually it will catch up.”
The head of FIFA had a captive global audience to enforce that commitment once the euphoria dies down, and declare that he is convinced. It could have been a powerful message resonating beyond sport.
It is a pity that with the world watching, he did not lean in himself.
Andreea Papuc is a Bloomberg Opinion editor. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
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