Female referees at World Cup 2022: Snubs, hostility and chauvinism

It takes a thick skin and real determination to become a top level referee, and that's even more true for women. The men's World Cup in Qatar will feature six female officials and they've all had to come up the hard way.

The last time Neuza Ines Back was in Qatar for a game, she was part of the officiating team at the 2020 Club World Cup final, as European champions Bayern Munich beat Mexican giants Tigres 1-0 in Al Rayyan.

Back, from western Brazil, had already officiated top level games in her homeland as well as the 2019 Women's World Cup in France. Now she was reserve assistant referee at FIFA's flagship club event, alongside her compatriot Edina Alves Batista, the fourth official.

At the postmatch presentation ceremony, Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, of the Qatari royal family, jovially bumped fists with male players and officials as they filed past him to collect their medals. But when Back and Batista reached him, Al Thani appeared to look right past the two women as though they did not exist.

While Islamic law prohibits men from physically touching women outside their immediate families, it does not restrict them from being courteous by lowering their eyes and making other non-touch related gestures.

Now, Back is set to return to Qatar as one of six women in the 129-strong officiating team at the men's World Cup in November. She'll take her place alongside fellow assistants Kathrnyn Nesbitt (USA) and Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico), plus head referees Stephanie Frappart (France), Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan) and Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda).

It's a first for the tournament, and it comes in its most controversial edition yet, with the middle eastern country accused by human rights organizations of using football as a ‘sportswashing' platform to deflect unsavory allegations of human rights violations, including gender discrimination.

While the ratio of female to male referees at the tournament remains low, analysts say the move is significant, especially in a country where women can, quite literally in the case of Back and Al Thani, be overlooked.

"That it is happening in Qatar is a powerful statement," says Erin Blankenship, co-founder of Equal Playing Field, a non-profit pushing for better female representation in sports.

"I don't expect the World Cup to have a 50/50 gender split. But I think it's getting to the point where it doesn't matter what gender you are, if you're good at your job you have every right to be on that field. For me, that's the goal."

A token for gender equality?

But not everyone sees female referees at the World Cup as a positive move, with some football fans, notably men, trolling the referees and denouncing what they see as a takeover of men's space.

Stephanie Frappart has taken more flak than most. The 37-year-old is one of France's top referees and became the first woman to officiate a men's UEFA Super Cup final (Liverpool vs. Chelsea) back in 2019, as well as a men's UEFA Champions League game (Juventus vs. Dynamo Kyiv) in 2020.

With an agile gait and an intense game-face taped on during matches, Frappart is also an intercontinental force, having been on the FIFA international referees list for more than a decade and officiating high-profile games such as the tense Women's World Cup 2019 final that saw the Megan Rapinoe-led US team defeat Netherlands.

But Frappart's success is a double-edged sword. The higher the profile, the greater the criticism, with former French international Jerome Rothen even dedicating a radio show to discrediting her Qatar selection, saying she is "not up to scratch.”

"When people say this it's because they think that women will never be good enough for the best leagues, which happen to be men's games," Blankenship of EPF counters. "But the female athletes who make it this far are usually the women prepared to push back and who have climbed many invisible mountains," she added.

Nervous, but ready

While Frappart continues to battle chauvinism in France, her colleague Salima Mukansanga has faced different challenges in Rwanda.

Despite the autocratic rule of Paul Kagame, Rwanda is one of the most gender-equal countries, with nearly two-thirds of its parliamentary seats taken by women.

But football referees, both male and female, are still the bad guys to fans, including Mukansanga's own dad, who would berate the officials when his team lost.

But for the young Salima, the card holders who command the players seemed the most important figures in the game. So, when she completed her secondary education at 15, she headed straight into refereeing, steadily working her way up from the local Rwandan leagues to officiating some of the most important tournaments in the world.

The 33-year-old made headlines earlier this year when she became the first female to referee two games at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Cameroon.

Before kickoff, Mukansanga was nervous, she told DW. There's greater pressure with men's games, because of the higher standards and because she is one of the first females to handle senior men tournaments. The support of excited fellow Rwandans weighed on her.

But she beat the fear. As Zimbabwe defeated Guinea, Mukansanga's face was an unreadable canvas as she sprinted after players with eagle-sharp eyes, oblivious to the audience stunned at the sight of a female referee.

When a Guinean forward patronizingly touched her arm to suggest she could reconsider a teammate's yellow card, Mukansanga mouthed, 'do you want one yourself?'. The forward very quickly left the scene.

Beyond Qatar

The other female referees in Qatar will be Tokyo native, referee Yoshimi Yamashita, who has officiated men's games in the Asia's AFC Cup and AFC Champions league; assistant Kathryn Nesbitt, an American chemistry professor/referee; and assistant Karen Diaz Medina, from Mexico.

There are still several arguments to make for better female representation in sports but for up-coming female referees, Qatar's referee lineup is confirmation that qualifications are taking precedence, says Eva Lotta Lockner, an amateur referee in the German city of Hamburg.

It means "that we actually stand a chance in getting selected for major male tournaments if we put in the work and show ambition,” she adds.

But while FIFA's move is commendable, what happens after Qatar is just as important, Blankenship of EPF says this needs to be a long-term project.

''I am psyched that this is happening,'' she says. ''But let's take responsibility for institutional barriers against women and let's remove them.''