Empowering Women Through Sports

Sweden's Sara Johansson, left, attempts a shot at goal as North Korea's Sonu Kyong Sun heads the ball away during the last Women's World Cup in China. (Time Magazine - Greg Baker / AP)

The Women’s World Cup kicks off later this month in Germany (June 26 – July 17).  To coincide with this, Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton announced the Women’s World Cup Initiative to empower women and girls through sports. The initiative is using international exchange to bring people together through sports diplomacy. Sports exchanges are actually the State Department’s most popular, Clinton said.

The launch was attended by delegations of female soccer players from Bolivia, Malaysia, Germany, Pakistan, Palestine and South Africa. Robyn Moodaly, the youngest player on South Africa’s national team at 16, introduced Secretary Clinton. Of her trip to America she said, “We are here in the U.S. to learn about American sports and culture and to teach each other about our lives, our hopes and the challenges we face. And yes, how to work together to overcome those challenges.”

The initiative also celebrates the 40^th anniversary of Title IX, which prohibited the exclusion of women from educational activities such as sports. “We’re really trying to keep giving and giving and giving to those who come after, because this is program that has literally leveled the playing field. Because sports programs teach girls of every income level and ethnic background about leadership and teamwork, about supporting one another,” Clinton said.

Through our global soap opera series, The Team, Search for Common Ground is also using sports to empower women and show models of female leadership. In Kenya, the team is co-ed, and captained by a female player, Johari. Her role as captain initially causes tension within the team largely because many of the male players cannot conceive of a capable female athlete, let alone leader. In Nepal, our coach, Seema, faces similar push-back as the female coach of an all male team. In The Democratic Republic of Congo, where the ravages of war have been especially devastating for women face, the team is all female and is lead by two ambitious players.

We’ve found that sports can be an excellent way to not only model unity but also to change attitudes around people’s roles in society; to change the way people think about themselves and each other.

As Secretary Clinton said in her address, “For me, sports is, in and of itself, terrific, but it’s also a symbol for so much of what we want to see in the world. As long as human beings are on this planet, we’re going to compete. But let’s compete with rules. Let’s compete in a way that doesn’t kill people.”

Watch the launch of the initiative here, with Clinton’s full speech and remarks from Melanne Verveer, the US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.