Celebrating Women's Football

Cape Town-based researchers and practitioners Mari and Lucy have been teammates on the University of Cape Town women’s first team for a number of years.  After completing their Masters degrees they now work for SCORE and recently established a Research Collective. They are also launching a women’s football tour social enterprise in order to raise the visibility of South African women football teams internationally.

The Research Collective, focusing on gender and sport, was birthed out of a common desire to see women’s football in South Africa reach its full potential. Their most recent project examined the inclusion and contribution of women’s football stakeholders in the lead up, and organising of, the 2010 World Cup.

Mari’s specialism is women’s football, empowerment, embodiment and sexuality.  She has written conference papers on sexuality, homophobia and stereotyping in women’s football in South Africa. 

Lucy’s research looked at the sport and development legacy potential of the World Cup in Cape Town and Lusaka. She wrote a conference paper on the corporatisation of women’s football in South Africa, and argues that the sport-business-media triad can positively benefit women’s football.

Mari and Lucy were invited to present their papers at the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) 2009 Gender Symposium “Gender and Sport in Africa’s Development” in Cairo.

As part of an attempt to further promote and support women’s football in South Africa, Mari and Lucy are launching a women’s football tours enterprise in which North American and European women’s football teams will be invited to compete against South African teams.

For more information

• Get in touch with Mari or Lucy (for logged in users)
• Read more about the 2009 Gender Symposium “Gender and Sport in Africa’s Development”
• Read more about SCORE - "Changing Lives Through Sport"