Four African teams are competing in the Women's
The Women's
That should be reason to be excited -- but in the months leading up to the Women's
Boycotts have taken place because of missing contracts, low pay and poor pitches. And
Low payments
Two weeks before the opening match, the
The Nigerian women's football team experienced a similar issue.
The dispute was finally resolved by the
Global gender pay gap
Some 29% of international women footballers said that they had not received any payments from their national teams.
While
But it is not easy to find exact payment figures. DW reached out to the national football federations of
The Zambian men's team has never played in a
In contrast to the national federations,
The money was usually transferred to the federations, resulting in lower individual payments, however it is a huge contrast to the men's
Poor working conditions
The South African women's team boycotted a warm-up because the poor condition of their pitch's clay and grass surface could have led to injuries -- considered too risky so close to the Women's
"We women get less time to train and have to make room for the men," said Katongo.
It's not just players from
FIFPRO's report shows that 26% of CAF's women footballers indicated that "extreme improvement" or "significant improvement" is needed when it comes to match day stadiums and pitches.
Regarding the quality of training pitches, 20% of respondents stated that "extreme improvement" or "significant improvement" is needed.
Sexual abuse
A report in The Guardian claimed that
"If he wants to sleep with someone, you have to say yes. It's normal that the coach sleeps with the players in our team," an unnamed player in Zambian women's football team told the British newspaper.
FIFPRO's legal director,
"We were shocked by the allegations obviously, but we were not shocked that this happens," according to Vermeer who said it is a structural problem in women's football which occurs all over the world.
Sexual misconduct has been reported in the Sierre Leone and
FIFPRO explained in a report that football is a high-risk environment for sexual misconduct.
A great number of athletes are aiming for a big career, including many young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds who want to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
That gives coaches and administrators a lot of power, which oftentimes comes with a high risk of abuse for the players.
However, "in the national federations there is often no interest in investigating cases," Vermeer explained to DW.
"As federation you want to keep the members happy who vote for you. These are the regional association and clubs, not the players."
What is needed, explained Vermeer, is "one independent entity for footballers that investigates abuses."
While this might take longer, there are things that could be changed right away, "like a gender balance in panels that hear the cases as well as a trauma informed and victim centric approach in federations," the legal director told DW.
Unfair treatments still in place
Poor working conditions, unfair payments and sexual misconduct are still very much in place in women's football teams in
Yet, across African teams there have been some improvements, like equal pay.
The Women's
And -- as we can see -- more and more women around the world are raising their voices.
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