The Beautiful Game and the Fight for Equality — Women’s Football, Identity, and the Media
It’s now been three years since the Lionesses brought major football back to Wembley, sparking the biggest attendance for a European Championship final, men’s or women’s – a record 87,624 pouring into the stadium in July 2022. And what a night it was for England and the hundreds of thousands of fans who had packed the streets. The winner’s momentum has seen more than just a fanbase shift in to support the female game – millions across the country have changed their views of what women can do in sport, according to research from the Women’s Sport Trust in aid of their 2025 Women’s Sport Week campaign.The spike in fans led to a tidal wave of interest in women’s sport as a whole, with the past year on TV representing the most viewers watching women’s sport in the UK. A total of 44.7 million have tuned in at home. But while the media coverage has been instrumental, there is still far more to come – and change is far from over.Did you know that women were banned from playing football on affiliated premises in 1921 for ‘medical and moral’ reasons? The ban lasted 50 long years until it was reversed in 1971. It is crucial that people understand the ban and the reasons behind it because the issue of women’s participation in football is far from over. By looking at the history of women’s football, we will gain a better understanding of how far the sport has come and how far it still has to go to achieve true equality.Media coverage of sport can be a powerful catalyst for participation by women and girls. According to research published in the Sociology of Sport Journal, media coverage of women’s sport is a powerful thing – and ‘powerful’ here is meant in its most basic sense – as visibility is a powerful thing, and that matter is just as important as quantity. Coverage of female sport participants that is favourable but inadequate will continue to undermine the legitimacy of women’s sport. It is important that media coverage of women’s and girls’ sport stops using language that infantilises and misrepresents women and girl participants by inaccurately labelling them. All participants, regardless of age, should be referred to correctly as ‘women’ and ‘players’, not ‘girls’ and ‘teens’ or ‘junior women’, or ‘ladies’ and ‘gals’. The greatest compliment that any club or broadcaster can pay to the women who play sport is to take them and their sport seriously by reporting their performances accurately.It’s not just an abstract issue for a club based in one of the most diverse parts of London. The mixed culture of nationalities living in Brent means that there are many different attitudes to women’s participation in sport, shaped by different cultural and social histories. The messages that young girls growing up in Brent receive about football – whether that’s on TV, through social media or through their local clubs – is key to helping them decide whether or not to play the game. For Wembley FC, which can field an entirely multicultural coaching team, run women and girls teams and feature female players at the heart of their story, that message is a powerful one.So why can’t we celebrate how far women’s football has come? Record TV viewers for the England women’s team, a rapidly growing participation base and increasing media coverage all suggest rapid progress. But there are still a number of tougher issues that need addressing. Globally women’s sport still only gets 15% of the coverage all sport receives, and outside of the relatively established Women’s Super League the infamous gender pay gap in football remains largely in place.And for those who play, there is also the more sinister issue of the prevalence of trolling and other forms of hostile behaviour online. The new sport-media relationship is opening up exciting new opportunities, but it is yet to bring sufficient transformative change in dismantling the more ingrained structures that currently persist.There are many positives to look forward to. UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 will be watched by over 500 million people worldwide (Sportfive, 2025). Clubs won’t pull that audience but they are based in the very communities where the next generation of female footballers and fans will come from. Clubs have the opportunity to promote women and girls football through their social media, match day programmes and community work. Though tricky to measure it’s hard to think that all those efforts won’t have an impact. In the interim social media provides clubs like Wembley FC with a platform to promote women and girls football within the local community from their base at Vale Farm.
References:
Pope, S. (2025) UEFA Women’s Euros: Media Coverage and Gender Equality. Durham University. Published Online. Available at: https://www.durham.ac.uk [Accessing this content].With the Olympic Games now seemingly locked into an endless cycle of renewal, what can we realistically expect in terms of gender equality in sport in the “next stage” of the “new age”? Women’s Football (2024) How Media Coverage Fuels Participation in Women’s Football. Available at: https://sportfive.co.uk (Accessed 26 March 2025). Women’s Sport Trust (2025). Women’s Sport Trust Reveals 44.7m Viewers Made 2024 a New Record Year. Available at: https://herfootballhub.com [Accessed 26 March 2026].World Economic Forum (2025). We Must Invest in Gender Parity to Redefine Women’s Sports. Available at: https://www.weforum.org [Accessed 26 March 2026]. Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2016) Marketing Management. 15th edn, Harlow: Pearson. McCarthy, J., Rowley, J. and Ashworth, C. (2022) ‘Social media marketing strategy in English football clubs’, Soccer & Society, 23(2). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com [Accessed 26 March 2026].Buchanan, K. (2025) 2025: The Year of Women’s Sport. Sport Social (2025) 2025: The Year of Women’s Sport. Available at: https://content.sport-social.co.uk [Accessed 26 March 2026]. Women’s Sport Trust (2025) Women’s Sport Trust Reveals 44.7m Viewers Made 2024 a New Record Year. Available at: https://herfootballhub.com [Accessed 26 March 2026].World Economic Forum (2025). We Must Invest in Gender Parity to Redefine Women’s Sports. Available at: https://www.weforum.org [Accessed 26 March 2026].
References:
Pope, S. (2025) UEFA Women’s Euros: Media Coverage and Gender Equality. Durham University. Published Online. Available at: https://www.durham.ac.uk [Accessing this content].With the Olympic Games now seemingly locked into an endless cycle of renewal, what can we realistically expect in terms of gender equality in sport in the “next stage” of the “new age”? Women’s Football (2024) How Media Coverage Fuels Participation in Women’s Football. Available at: https://sportfive.co.uk (Accessed 26 March 2025). Women’s Sport Trust (2025). Women’s Sport Trust Reveals 44.7m Viewers Made 2024 a New Record Year. Available at: https://herfootballhub.com [Accessed 26 March 2026].World Economic Forum (2025). We Must Invest in Gender Parity to Redefine Women’s Sports. Available at: https://www.weforum.org [Accessed 26 March 2026]. Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2016) Marketing Management. 15th edn, Harlow: Pearson. McCarthy, J., Rowley, J. and Ashworth, C. (2022) ‘Social media marketing strategy in English football clubs’, Soccer & Society, 23(2). Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com [Accessed 26 March 2026].Buchanan, K. (2025) 2025: The Year of Women’s Sport. Sport Social (2025) 2025: The Year of Women’s Sport. Available at: https://content.sport-social.co.uk [Accessed 26 March 2026]. Women’s Sport Trust (2025) Women’s Sport Trust Reveals 44.7m Viewers Made 2024 a New Record Year. Available at: https://herfootballhub.com [Accessed 26 March 2026].World Economic Forum (2025). We Must Invest in Gender Parity to Redefine Women’s Sports. Available at: https://www.weforum.org [Accessed 26 March 2026].