Gender Equality in the “Next Stage” of the “New Age?” Content and Fan Perceptions of English Media Coverage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Abstract

This article offers an original contribution by examining both the quantity and quality of English print media coverage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and how fans perceive and respond to this coverage. It is the first longitudinal analysis of media coverage of women’s football in the United Kingdom and compares print media coverage between the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups. We draw on a content analysis of five English national newspapers and 49 semistructured interviews with fans. We develop new theoretical insights through the development of our framework of the “next stage” of the “new age.” Our findings show media coverage of women’s football has substantially increased, with respectful coverage sustained. The new theme of gender equality made visible several types of inequality, but the media industry failed to acknowledge its own role in reinforcing gender inequalities. Interviewees were critical of the time-limited “revolution” whereby coverage was limited to the duration of the World Cup. To advance gender equality, future media coverage must be sustained, meaningful, and prominent.

‘They are doing it because they love it’: U.S. and English fan perceptions of women footballers as ‘role models’

“…In believing this content to be an "authentic" expression of women's personalities and "real" reflection of their lives, fans ignored the enormous amount of labor that goes in to developing, creating, and editing media content (Toffoletti and Thorpe 2018). In fact, women's sport was an early adopter of social media and women athletes have long been digital and media innovators, as they have been shut out of mainstream media (Pope, Allison, and Petty 2023). Yet it is work to create content that reads as authentic, and women athletes feel acutely the expectation that they be responsive and personable through social media (Pocock and Skey 2022).…”

“…In desiring highly personalized, first-person content to foster a sense of connection, fans mark role modelling as an expectation that players divulge personal details about their training, their challenges, and their relationships. While media covering men's sport often tell deeply personal human-interest stories (Pope, Allison, and Petty 2023), fans' expectation of "authenticity" meant that such stories needed to be told by players themselves, and with high levels of access to their daily routines and personal lives.…”

Inclusive, inviting, inspiring: Insights into the experiences of women's football fans in Australia and Germany

“…A longitudinal analysis of print media coverage of women's football in the UK between the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cups shows that media coverage of women's football has increased significantly. Although studies like this are rare, the trend of increasing interest in women's football can be observed, at least in Europe, in recent years (Pope et al, 2023). As the development of women's sports continues and more women's sporting codes establish themselves around the world, more and more peoplenot only womenare finding a sporting experience where the traditional hegemonic masculine behaviour (see Antonowicz et al, 2020;Cere, 2002;Crawford and Gosling, 2004;Jones, 2008;Sveinson and Hoeber, 2016) is not only unwelcome but is also actively abolished through alternative sporting cultures.…”