In Brazil, women's soccer players battle sexism in 'macho' society
RIO DE JANEIRO — It might be the most Brazilian of all things to be good at soccer, seriously good, so good that your national team makes you its captain and you represent the famed yellow jersey all over the world for more than a decade.
Such a career is a dream for millions of young Brazilians and in most cases leads to a life of fame, fortune and adulation.
Except if you are a woman.
“In Brazil the concept of the ideal woman is that of a sexual object,” Aline Pelligrino, Brazil’s former women’s captain and a World Cup (2007) and Olympic (2004) silver medalist. “Not of a soccer player.”
Brazil’s women’s team plays Australia in the Olympic quarterfinal on Friday and has gained some attention with its fine displays in the tournament so far. However, the men’s team remains the far bigger draw, even after being booed off the field after drawing 0-0 in its first two games before destroying Denmark 4-0 on Wednesday.
Pelligrino lives a comfortable life in Sao Paulo, away from the spotlight in retirement, and quite likes it that way. Attaining celebrity is the least of the worries for female soccer players in Brazil, she told USA TODAY Sports recently. Gaining even a basic measure of respect is a far bigger issue.
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“This is a macho country,” Pellegrino said. “And soccer is seen as a male sport. Whoever plays soccer is a strong man, that is the image, so having a woman play soccer does not match that. They want women in the kitchen, all beautiful and sexy. Not in a soccer jersey kicking a ball around.”
Brazil’s affinity for soccer is unmatched anywhere in the world. While the rules of the modern game were drawn up in England, Brazil can rightfully claim to be its spiritual home, a place where the game and life intertwine effortlessly.
The 2014 World Cup, despite Brazil’s crushing 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinal, gave the world a glimpse of how the vibrant national personality draws inspiration from the planet’s most popular sport.
Women, however, have eternally been lost somewhere on the periphery of that idyllic scene. Even with the female version of the game enjoying more global popularity than ever, Brazil has not caught up. The Brazilian women’s team is one of the favorites for gold in Rio, but the treatment of girls who want to play at the grass roots level is disturbing, to say the least.
“The problem usually starts at home,” said Carla Santos de Oliveira, a former Brazil under-20 international player. Along with Pelligrino, Oliveira works with the Guerreiras Project, a non-profit organization set up to help Brazilian girls overcome age-old stereotypes.
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“They are told they cannot play soccer at their own home because soccer is not for girls,” Oliveira said. “Or girls can go and play but also they need to come and wash dishes. Meanwhile boys don’t have to do any house chores, they can simply play soccer all day.
“Outside of the house, kids have to face the rules that the society sets for them. In schools, often don’t let girls play. During adolescent years if you want to play soccer your friends say, ‘You are like a guy, you are homosexual.’”
Brazil’s women’s teams have suffered from a lack of funding and even leading men’s club Santos ditched its women’s program. The troubling perceptions run deep, even into the national federation itself.
“Now the women are getting more beautiful, putting on makeup,” Marco Aurelio Cunha of the CBF, Brazilian soccer’s governing body, told the Toronto Globe and Mail during last year’s women’s World Cup. “They go in the field in an elegant manner. Now the shorts are a bit shorter, the hairstyles are more done up. It’s not a woman dressed as a man.”
Cunha’s job title? He’s responsible for progressing the women’s game in Brazil.
There is still a long way to go.
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