The Gender and Sexualities Research Centre (GSRC) and BSA Work, Employment and Economic Life Study Group (WEEL) present this online seminar on Wednesday, May 11th 2022 5 to 6.30pm, by Zoom.
The profile of women’s professional football is growing with games now screened on the BBC and Sky. This summer Euro2022 is being held in England, with many games already sold out, including the Wembley final.
Yet for most players, even at the highest level, women’s football involves short-term, precarious contracts, low pay, few benefits, bodily surveillance, delayed motherhood and disrupted personal lives.
Change has started. This year we have seen improvements in maternity and sick leave protections in the top two English leagues, and a landmark equal pay victory for the National US Women’s Soccer Team.
This timely seminar reveals the gendered precarity that increased professionalisation has brought and highlights the role played by players’ collective organisations in fighting for change.
Speaker: Dr. Alex Culvin
Alex Culvin works in player and union relations at FIFPro, the global union of professional footballers, and is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Business at Leeds Beckett University. Alex is also a former professional footballer, who represented Everton, Leeds United, AZ Alkmaar, Bristol, and Liverpool. Her PhD was the first to examine football as work for women in England, focusing on employment policy and workplace conditions. Her research interests centre on elite sport, policy, gender, and business. Alex is the chair of the Football Collective, a global network of football scholars and a Policy Advisor for Fair Game. Alex’s work has been published in the Telegraph, BBC Sport and The Independent. She tweets from @alexculvin.
Register now (no charge) via https://www.city.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2022/may/womens-football-as-precarious-work
