Former England star Eniola Aluko believes women footballers now have to simply ‘crack on’ in the face of sexism because it remains a ‘reality’ in the game towards women footballers which is still rife on social media.
Aluko who won 102 caps for her country and is now sporting director at Aston Villa women has broken down barriers and is a respected pundit, even becoming the first female pundit on Match of the Day.
But speaking to England rugby star Maro Itoje on his podcast Pearl Conversations, which is released on Tuesday, Aluko said: ‘I think sexism is kind of the reality in a way, in terms of being a minority sport in a predominantly male-driven world and ultimately it’s kind of like you’ve just got to crack on with what you love to do which is playing football.
“Ultimately I think women’s football has now got to a place where we’re not trying to sell ourselves to people who don’t care about it, we’re trying to play for the people that respect it, for the longest time it was: “Oh please respect us”, and it’s like: “No we’re good at what we do, we’re good at football, we’re great at football, some of us are better than the boys that we played with.”
She added: ‘Sexism has almost become the status quo in terms of our existence within the sport game but it’s definitely changed a lot in terms of how just people respect women playing sport. But you still see it on social media, I’ve had it a lot in terms of in the media world whenever I’ve gone on TV and talked about the men’s game. You can do no right to a lot of people because you’re a woman.’
Aluko feels she was treated particularly differently when she first went on Match of the Day back in 2014.
‘I did feel as though that I had to be that much more prepared than the guys. They can kind of take it for granted, I can’t, I really had to prepare, I really had to take it seriously. I can’t just rock up 20 minutes before the show, I did three days of research. And some people will say “That’s a bit much Eni”, but that’s what made me feel ready as a woman, as the first woman, to do the show. And ultimately our margin for error is minimal as women, that’s just a reality.
Having broken through that glass ceiling, however, she is ready to challenge more areas rife with prejudice.
“I always try and put myself in a position where I can be the first to do it and open the door. I think it’s a very powerful position to be in in terms of not just doing it for you, but doing it for many other women.”
Despite her achievements both on and off the pitch, Aluko still routinely faces abuse on social media – about her race, as well as her gender.
