Let Women Lead Women
Why patriarchal sporting organisations are unsafe for women and why the autonomy of self-governance is the only real solution
In a previous article I spoke about the issue women’s sport faces the world over and why. This isn’t new, but it’s getting so much more media attention of late. And with that attention, comes opportunity for change.
Irish Women's Rugby SC
In the past week we have seen the damage of patriarchal sporting organisations laid bare. The Spanish world cup triumph had all the good feeling stripped by a powerful man behaving poorly and an organisation backing him to the hilt.
In patriarchal organisations, the old boys clubs, we see sports organisations run by a large majority of men, and often men from playing generations from 20-40 years ago, often before women’s sport got so much as a look in. And so those organisations are run with the mens game as the obvious priority.
In these organisations, patronage is the means by which individuals reach lofty heights. Those deemed to have served the organisation, and in particular those in power, are rewarded with prestigious positions. It’s built into the fabric of these organisation’s governance. Protect the system at all costs.
It’s no surprise then, that when someone questions the organisation or an individual in power, that we see rows of seal clapping and people bending over backwards to protect the organisation and those harmful individuals.
In particular we have seen this in the last week with the Luis Rubiales fiasco. A man in a very powerful position, not just in the RFEF but as the vice-president of UEFA, was seen to sexually assault a player and grab his genitalia in a sexually aggressive celebration following Spain’s world cup victory.
The entire world saw it.
And now the entire world is seeing patriarchal organisations like RFEF defend Rubiales at all costs. The organisation appears to have falsified a statement from his victim Jenni Hermosa, attempted to coerce her and other players into showing him support, and has now threatened anyone that speaks out against him, including Hermosa herself, with a law suit.
This is an extreme situation, but it is one that reveals exactly how these organisations work and how they harm women. For years the women complained privately, and were vilified and excluded for doing so. The climate of harm persisted.
This isn’t unique to Spanish football. The harm patriarchal sporting prganisations cause is evident across the globe.
On our own shores, we saw 62 past and present players sign a letter demanding better from the IRFU. They took the public route, because private concerns and recommendations were ignored. They directly questioned the culture and governance of the IRFU.
“Ultimately recent events simply reflect multiple cycles of substandard commitment from the union, inequitable and untrustworthy leadership, a lack of transparency in the governance and operation of the women’s game…and an overall total lack of ambition about what it could achieve.”
The IRFU responded very quickly to deny everything and attack the messengers by stating it “refutes the overall tenor of the document which questions the IRFU’s commitment to, and leadership of, the women’s game in Ireland.”
Despite changing their tune as their defensive response was poorly received, we saw the organisation protect itself, not the players. To quell the uproar, it commissioned reports which went unpublished and appear to have carefully controlled who could engage with it.
The culture of the organisation was never reviewed. The governance was never reviewed. The source of the problems were entirely ignored. And as a result, little has changed.
We’ve seen this same pattern in Welsh, Australian, New Zealand, Fijian and Scottish rugby. We’ve seen it in Swedish, Canadian and Nigerian football . We’ve seen it in the GAA. We’ve seen sexual abuse and sexual assault in Irish swimming, USA gymnastics and Indian wrestling. The common issue is patriarchal organisations that look after themselves. Places where women don’t have a voice or any meaningful leadership. Where the ones that speak up are vilified, gaslit, attacked and abused.
Patriarchal organisations have shown us time and again that women’s sport to them is, at best, an inconvenience. After all, “who gives a f*ck about women’s rugby?”They often see us as a threat to the men’s game, and so they purposely hold us back.
What women need, is autonomy. The ability to self-govern. Let women lead women. Not 40% of a board, where the patriarchs choose the appropriate and compliant women. Full autonomy. A board where we share power, can appoint our own representatives and make decisions on our behalf.
Women’s sport isn’t an inconvenience to women. We won’t simply give it lip service. We won’t protect bad men and ruin good women. Until we have that autonomy, powerful men who chose to abuse us are safe, and women are not.
Let Women Lead Women