Brazilian women gather to discuss female presence in stadiums

The Museum of Football, in western São Paulo city, welcomed the First National Meeting of Women on the Bleachers Saturday (Jun 10). The attending women totaled 350, from football fan clubs and women's association from 11 Brazilian states. The goal is to discuss the presence of women in stadiums as well as strategies to fight sexism among football fans.

“We're fighting really hard against sexism on the bleachers, against the prohibitions still in force for women, the abuse. Many girls have gained a lot of space, so they're going to tell us how they did it. We plan to release a documentary with some of the proposals for addressing this,” said one of the organizers, Dadá Ganan, from Gaviões da Fiel, a Corinthians fan club.

The idea for a meeting came, Ganan said, on Facebook and WhatsApp conversations. She says that women have to deal with a lot of obstacles as football fans, in addition to society's sexism, which is reflected in the stadium. “You can't wear shorts in some clubs, for example. In others women can't touch material. In some clubs they don't allow women to go on trips with the fans,” she said.

Even though talks between women from different fan clubs are no novelty, Ganan was surprised to see the number of people at the meeting. “I had no idea so many people would come,” she said.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira