Women’s Soccer in the United States and the Netherlands: Differences and Similarities in Regimes of Inequalities

Abstract

Gender, class, and sexuality are intersecting categories of inequality and also social forces that shape meanings given to organizations, social institutions, identities, and images. The authors use Acker’s (2000) concept “regimes of inequality” to explore how gender, specifically masculinities, intersects with social class and sexuality in women’s soccer. The extent to which social relations are also situational and culturally specific can be revealed in part with the use of comparative studies. The story of women’s soccer in the Netherlands is one of struggle for resources, acceptance, visibility, and legitimization with little result, while in the United States that same struggle has resulted in visibility and the establishment of a professional women’s soccer league. In this article the authors explore several regimes of inequality that shape women’s soccer using cross-cultural comparisons.

The Integrative Power of Sport: Imagined and Real Effects of Sport Events on Multicultural Integration

“…Although soccer participation by Dutch girls and women is increasing, soccer is still primarily associated with boys and men (Knoppers & Anthonissen, 2003). Instead of challenging this inequality, the practices at the AWC reproduced it by systematically assigning women to the subordinate role of spectators.…”

Negotiating Gender in Professional Soccer: An Analysis of Female Footballers in the United States

“…Soccer has historically been a social space where traditional forms of masculinity are developed and practiced (Knoppers & Anthonissen, 2003). In terms of professional soccer the US has witnessed mixed business success and long-term viability.…”

“…While the US female soccer team appeared at this time to have succeeded in its struggle against invisibility (Knoppers & Anthonissen, 2003), the results at the professional level were short lived. The success of the national team has not translated into a sustainable professional women's soccer league.…”

“…Past research on women's soccer from sociological and psychosocial approaches include investigations of gender differences and relative age effect (Vincent & Glasser, 2006), mediated constructions of contemporary females athletes (Shugart, 2003), intersections of gender, masculinity, social class, and sexuality (e.g., Cox & Thompson, 2000;Fasting & Pfister, 2000;Knoppers & Anthonissen, 2003), women's soccer and American exceptionalism NEGOTIATING GENDER IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER (Markovits & Hellerman, 2003), ethnic subcultures' construction of unique cultural identities through sport and integration into multicultural national identities (Van Rheenen, 2009), content media analysis and discourses (Christopherson, Janning, & McConnell, 2002), perceptions of stress and coping (Holt & Hogg, 2002;Kristiansen, Murphy, & Roberts, 2012), the challenge of dominant notions of "appropriate" female sports (Scraton, Fasting, Pfister, & Bunuel, 1999), and international feminism and soccer (Barlow, 2000). Despite this body of research on sport, gender, and media, more directed research is needed on the gender dynamics and experiences of professional female footballers (Liston, 2006) in a US sporting landscape that has faced challenges in building and sustaining women's professional soccer leagues.…”

Communicating the Athlete as a Brand: An Examination of LPGA Star Suzann Pettersen

“…Ross (2006) stated that organization induced antecedents allow the brand's stakeholders to create and control the information about the brand communicated to [***Include Image 3 "foreside" here ***] Being a successful athlete alone does not guarantee high brand equity. For example, in 1999 the US female soccer team appeared to have succeeded in its struggle against invisibility by winning the World Cup (Knoppers & Anthonissen, 2003), however, the effect of winning was short lived as the success of the national team did not translate into a sustainable professional women's soccer league (Kristiansen, Broch, & Pedersen, 2014). The point is that the value of an athlete's brand is dependent on consumer perceptions (Arai et al, 2014).…”