Swindon domestic abuse charity calls continued sexism in football ‘worrying’
The Lionesses are looking to defend their title as European Champions
Swindon's domestic abuse charity says we need to be aware of the threats that big sporting events pose for women and girls.
It is as the Lionesses are playing in their second group stage game of the UEFA Women’s Euros against the Netherlands tonight.
During last year’s men’s tournament, reports of domestic abuse go went up by around 30% every time England played, according to research by the National Centre for Domestic Violence.
Kate Rowland, CEO of Society Without Abuse, told Greatest Hits Radio: “As far as I'm aware, in the last women's tournament we didn't see that same impact, but there may be further research that comes out that disputes that.
“I mean a lot of the factors around why we see the big increase in the men's tournament is linked to drinking and to the culture in of maybe having gone out to the pub and of that raising aggression, of raising adrenaline levels.
“Perhaps at the moment, that doesn't have quite the same effect in the women's tournaments, but obviously that game is becoming bigger and bigger, so over time we will see what happens.”
While drinking, as well as betting, are major factors that influence domestic abuse, these are not the only reasons for concern.
According to Her Game Too, a campaign that aims to tackle sexism in sport, more than nine in 10 (91.9%) female football fans have witnessed sexist abuse online and more than half (58.4%) have experienced such behaviour in person, either at a football ground or at a pub.
“That's an interesting trend that we're seeing”, added Ms Rowland.
“And it is worrying because online and in person kind of sexist comments may seem like a minor thing, but actually that's the seeds that grow a society where abuse and violence against women and girls is accepted or enabled.
“And there's also been reports of the England players saying that during this tournament, they're going to be trying to stay off of social media because they get huge amounts of abuse throughout the tournaments and obviously that can have a real impact on them.”
However, she also sees the tournament as an opportunity to empower women and girls.
Since the last women’s tournament in 2022, which the Lionesses won, 34,000 women and girls have taken up football as a recreational activity and 10,300 girls have started playing competitively, according to the FA.
“That's a really, really positive thing”, said Ms Rowland.
“I don't like the message that we must show young girls that they can be anything because they don't need to be told that and in fact telling them that puts the idea in their head that maybe they can't be.
“But it's all about role models, isn't it? And the Lionesses in particular are such fantastic role models and it's really exciting time.”