When I first joined the WHTID team, Iain asked me if I would address the issue of why I thought only 2-3% of the site’s readership was women. To be honest, the thought of having to write the blog scared me a bit. Firstly, you have to address why in 2013 football is still a game, a culture and an expectation undoubtedly dominated by men and boys. And this isn’t a simple answer in any sense of the word.
There’s a lot I could write about it, and in fact there are people more skilled than me out there who have researched and written about England, football and gender. They are smarter than me, you can read their stuff here. I think the issue is far too complex to answer in just one blog and the reasons are varied. No answer in one blog post is ever really going to address all of the factors that make WHTID primarily a boys club.
Secondly, I’ve written plenty on the internet about possible explanations for gender differences (my MA thesis was on gender stereotyping in election campaigns for goodness sake!) and I have first hand experience of how the subject provokes unbelievable responses from otherwise sensible people. Responses that are dismissive, responses that are abusive and responses that are take a lot of energy to be on the receiving end of. To say that I was wary of tackling the subject on a football blog was an understatement to say the least.
Finally, I thought that to actually do the answer any sort of justice, I’d have to be critical of the site and contributors to date, and I won’t do that. Contributing to any blog site regularly takes love, time and effort, especially when you don’t get paid for it! And this is a fantastic site, with some excellent, well-written, well-researched, informative contributions. So I was procrastinating…
Then my sister-in-law had her first baby (I know, I know, everyone I know is getting married or having kids!) and I wanted to buy a West Ham babygro for him. I went to the West Ham shop website, got the credit card ready and got excited to take the first step to become the favorite auntie who spoils him rotten.
I looked through the newborn selection under ‘Unisex’ and there were some cute sleep suits, some crappy looking t shirts with snowmen on and a selection of bibs with witty comments on them, mainly relating to bubbles or dribbling. Nothing that jumped out at me as amazing, but then again nothing that objectionable. I clicked on the ‘Boys’ tab, and at first glance, the items for sale seemed very much the same as those designed without gender in mind. The people in charge seem to think claret and blue camo is only for boys, but aside from that no discernable differences.
Then, out of sheer curiosity, I decided to have a look at what the powers that be have decided is suitable for West Ham fans to be dressing their daughters in. And that was when I decided that I needed to write this column.
As you can see from the photo, there wasn’t a claret and blue item for sale to the newest female fans to join our West Ham community. Just pink. Lots of pink. Last time I checked we didn’t play in pink. Or leopard print (although this would be an interesting development for next season). None of the clothes for newborn girls even have the crest on them, just some crossed Hammers and ‘I heart WHU’ written on them. I’m not saying no pink, but why only pink?
They were not as bad however, as the other half of the range for our daughters, which carry the statements ‘Bling, Bling Bling’ and ‘Essex Princess’. Are you kidding me? What on earth does either of these things have to do with West Ham? (And if someone comments that we train in Essex, they get the smart arse award of the post).
I’m putting it to you, my fellow WHTID readers, that we could do so much better as a community to really make sure that our mums, wives and daughters feel like they are part of the West Ham family. It’s like we never really ever expect girls to become real fans, so when you do meet a woman who genuinely loves the Hammers, they get treated like an anomaly or weirdo. This happens in real life and online. I think if we actually started treated women like real fans from a younger age, then we’d eventually start changing the number of women who truly consider themselves to be West Ham Till they Die.
PS. I’m going to count this as the first in a series of articles which look at some of these issues, and hopefully be able to address Iain’s question but in a sensible way.