Ok, you’ve had your fun on the soccer field. Now get back in the kitchen.
This week, the English team, the “Lionesses” returned to home soil having made it to the semi-finals. That’s an achievement that Beckham and his male English team haven’t done in nearly three decades. But despite their success, the tweet from England soccer authorities welcoming them home was a little….um………unusual.
Thankyou, @england, for reminding us that these women will soon return to their lives as mothers, partners and daughters. That women can’t be just sports stars, they also have to be mothers and daughters and partners too. Because emotions, and periods, I guess?
The tweet has since been deleted but it didn’t escape the attention of internet who were swift to call it out for what it was: everyday sexism.
I just thought: would we write this of a man? Would we write it about someone that had just won the Nobel Peace Prize? Would we pat Hillary Clinton on the head and say, well done Hills. Back you go to being a mum to Chelsea and a wife to Bill?
You never see interviews of sports men that ask about what else they do, or how they juggle being a father, or whether their grand final victory compares to their wedding day – a question asked after the WNBL Grand Final this year.