From sport widows to sport fans: research tracks evolution of women supporters

Associate Professor Kim Toffoletti, a Deakin School of Humanities and Social Sciences researcher in gender and sport, said that women had moved from the sidelines into more visible and active roles as fans, yet they often still had to work hard to be taken seriously in sport contexts.

“For too long sport was not considered a proper activity for women to participate in,” Associate Professor Toffoletti said.

“It was thought of as something men intrinsically ‘like’ and ‘do’ and women who express a love of sport are somehow ‘out of the box’.

“My research suggests that this perception is slowly changing however women as sport fans primarily occur in ways that do not threaten the primacy of male audiences or contest the gender status quo.

“Women are now faced with new challenges in terms of how to reconcile societal expectations that women embrace and celebrate being feminine in sporting spaces that have traditionally been male-dominated, with hostility and suspicions towards anything ‘too girly’.”

Associate Professor Toffoletti said there was growing interest from sport organisations and marketers focusing on women sport fans as a relatively ‘untapped’ consumer market.

“Close attention is being paid to where and how women are watching, sport marketers of major (men’s) sports are catering to women audiences by branding clothing and merchandise for women, advertising shows women in the sports crowd and cheering for their teams,” she said.

“There is also greater focus on issues of ‘diversity and inclusion’ by sport organisations at international, national and regional levels that seems to also be playing a part in encouraging women’s participation at all levels - not only as fans but as coaches, administrators, players and the like.

“This increased attention is terrific and sends a message that women fans exist, that their existence is noteworthy and that the presence of women supporters matter to major sports organisations.”

While evolution of the female sports fan was good for both sport in general and the way women were now portrayed in the sporting world more broadly, Associate Professor Toffoletti said their presence was still framed in a way that did not threaten male dominance as the ultimate supporter.

“It would be easy to celebrate the growing attention and visibility being given to female fans as a sign that gender equality in sport has been reached. Sadly, what my research indicates is that gender stereotypes still exist about women as fans of sport,” she said.

“When we do see women fans represented, particularly at major sport events like the FIFA football men’s World Cup and the recent Australian Open tennis tournament, the camera will tend to linger on youthful, slender women in the crowd who typically meet the societal criteria for female attractiveness, which is not necessarily representative of the range of women who enjoy sport.

“At the same time, women who do express feminine qualities in the way they dress or act at sport events are often criticised and judged as not being ‘true’ or ‘legitimate’ fans.

“Because of their looks, the gendered stereotypical assumption is made that the reason they are watching sport is because they are accompanying their boyfriends or checking out male players.

“These kinds of judgements make it hard for women fans to simply ‘be themselves’ at sport events, but instead they are often required to carefully manage how they look and act in the sport crowd, for fear of being scrutinised for being ‘too girly’ or sometimes they risk being judged for not being feminine enough!”

Associate Professor Toffoletti said that social media was emerging as an important space for women fans to build communities and networks with like-minded fans across the globe.

“Women are using social media platforms to express their love of sport, knowledge about the sports they follow, and investment in their sport clubs and communities,” she said.

“These outlets are providing a largely unmediated platform to ‘talk sports’ – something that many fans love to do.”

Associate Professor Toffoletti’s research is the subject of a new book Women Sport Fans: Identification, Participation and Representation (2017, Routledge publishers).