Annoying and unfortunate facts about British football: “Go to the kitchen”

About half of soccer fans are women England and Welsh have personally experienced sexist or misogynistic abuse at matches, but the majority never report it to the authorities, a new study by anti-discrimination charity ‘Kick It Out’ revealed on Wednesday.

Whistling, questions about their knowledge of football and constant harassment were some of the sexist behaviors experienced by the 1,502 people surveyed, with 7% saying they were touched inappropriately, 3% were victims of physical violence and 2% % sexually assaulted. or harassed.

Although the research showed that sexism remained a major issue for female match-goers as well as non-binary fans, 77% said they felt safe and four in 10 said their experiences has improved over time.

But ethnic minorities, members of the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities and young people are more likely to feel unsafe and experience sexism in a football environment, according to research. The majority of respondents, 85%, said they had never reported abuse, mainly because they did not believe it had any purpose.

“Football must step up to ensure that sexism is taken seriously and that women feel safe and confident in speaking out against discrimination,” said Kick It Out’s Hollie Varney. “We’ve seen reports of sexism on ‘Kick It Out’ increase significantly in recent times.”

The research also highlighted the use of sexist language: 53% of respondents said they had experienced or witnessed women being told they should be somewhere else, such as “in the kitchen”.

Using research data, Kick It Out launched a campaign to make sure female fans know that sexist abuse is discrimination and can be reported, and to show male fans how they can deal with such abuse behavior when they see it.

But reports of sexism in football go beyond fans’ experiences. In 2014, a female employee exposed sexist emails former Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore had sent to friends, forcing him to apologise. In 2018, the British Football Association was forced to apologize after being accused of sexism for sharing a photo of the England women’s football team on X with the caption: “They scrubbed well, didn’t they?”

In Spain, former soccer federation president Luis Rubiales will be tried for his non-consensual kiss with women’s national team player Jenni Hermoso in August last year. For players and fans, it showed that, despite progress in women’s football, more structural changes are needed.