Sexism also lurks in the boots of female footballers, denounces the British Parliament

“ It’s a man’s world, a man’s “. Not surprisingly, just as many drugs are formulated or airbags designed, athletic shoes are also made first for men, before being developed for women. And instead of thinking specifically about their anatomy, most of sports equipment manufacturers tend to stretch the gradation (e.g. adding or subtracting a percentage of a millimeter to design the size above or below a model considered standard.) However, life would be a little more complicated than that, as they have shown several injuries during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

High-profile women’s sporting events can be used to combat gender inequalities

As summarized The group, among the players injured during the 2023 Women’s World Cup are the French Delphine Cascarino and Marie-Antoinette Katoto, the English Beth Mead and Leah Williamson and the Canadian Janine Beckie. Often it was a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament. And the United Kingdom is passionate about football, the “Women and Equality” commission of the British Parliament studied the phenomenon to draw up a report published on March 5, 2024. The summary of this first one begins with the celebrations:

“British women’s sport is experiencing a renaissance in media coverage and public interest. Major events such as UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, won so memorably by the English Lionesses, and last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup are driving a steady increase in the visibility of women’s sport […]. »

But these celebrations serve to better highlight how this gain in media coverage and notoriety should also serve to fight gender inequalities. Whose to fight lack of understanding of the health and physiological needs of women and girls in sport “.

Knee injuries due to inappropriate shoes

This committee of the British Parliament highlights the sexist dimension of the treatment of this case of repeated injuries to female footballers:

“Examination of the current problem of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injuries in women’s football has shown that there is systemic gender inequality in sports research and exercise, which is still predominantly done by men and which addresses the problems that affect them. The sports science industry’s response to the ACL problem has been slow and uneven. We are confident that a health problem of similar scale affecting elite male footballers would have received a quicker, more thorough and better coordinated response. »

An anterior cruciate ligament rupture is an injury that affects women three times more than men at this level of football. The report highlights the lack of shoes designed specifically for women (in terms of biomechanics, ergonomics, morphology). Only the IDA Sports brand currently produces shoes specifically designed for women. This is why this committee of the British Parliament is calling for major sports equipment manufacturers to come together to develop a strategy to change the situation. Why sexism also lurks in the boots of female footballers.

Fight against sexism in sport right from school

But this report also proposes to transform physical education and sport at school. Quality should be improved, in particular by being more vigilant to ensure that students have more suitable equipment and above all by ensuring that girls participate with pleasure. This must also involve better training of coaches and sports teachers so that they are “trained in women’s health, in particular through compulsory qualifications”summarizes the report.

The latter also calls for the creation of a working group to reflect and work towards better management of the problems of pregnancy, maternity and leave associated with them. We can only hope that this report will be taken into consideration, beyond the issue of crampons.

Discover BookClub, Madmoizelle’s show that questions society through books, in the company of those who make them.