Waiting or Acting? The Gender Gap in International Football Success

The conditions under which women's national football teams do better or worse in international tournaments remains an open question. Using data from 116 countries worldwide, we have examined three arguments accounting for the gender gap in international football success, focusing on positive ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational review for the sociology of sport Vol. 57; no. 7; pp. 1139 - 1156
Main Authors Lago, Ignacio, Lago-Peñas, Santiago, Lago-Peñas, Carlos
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.11.2022
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Economic development
Empowerment
Equality
Gender inequality
Social development
Sports teams
Women
externalities
football
gender gap
gender inequalities
women’s empowerment
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Summary:The conditions under which women's national football teams do better or worse in international tournaments remains an open question. Using data from 116 countries worldwide, we have examined three arguments accounting for the gender gap in international football success, focusing on positive externalities from economic development and women's empowerment, and the active policies promoting women's football. Our findings show that the international performance of women's national football teams compared to men's national football teams increases with women's empowerment and in countries committed to the promotion of women's football, while economic development is not relevant. The general question we address is whether gender gaps disappear because of economic and social development, or if active policies promoting women are required to achieve gender equality.
ISSN:1012-6902
1461-7218
DOI:10.1177/10126902211060727