The DFB had banned women’s football for over 15 years.
(Photo: Getty Images)
The German national soccer team could win their ninth European Championship title this Sunday. Then the players of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg will play the hosts from England in the historic Wembley Stadium.
Should the Germans actually become European champions, the team will receive a bonus from the German Football Association (DFB). However, one that would be significantly lower than would be the case for the male counterparts: Each player would get 60,000 euros, for the men it would have been more than six times as much at 400,000 euros. The DFB argues with unequal proceeds from the marketing of both teams.
Other countries show that things can be done differently: eight teams in the European Women’s Championship were promised the same bonus as the men. After a year-long legal dispute, the women’s world champions from the USA also received a promise from their association in the spring of this year that they would receive the same pay as the men.
The unequal pay in this country is hypocritical, because the DFB itself has massively torpedoed football played by women for decades. The example is a lesson beyond the world of sports and a wake-up call to deal with the structures behind supposedly fair performance appraisals.
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Between 1955 and 1970 women in Germany were not allowed to play soccer in clubs. The association had officially banned organized women’s football. The reasoning at the time was: “Feminine grace disappears in the fight for the ball.”
DFB jointly responsible for the lack of income from women’s sports
To this day, football women do not receive nearly the same support as football men. Unlike men’s matches, national team matches are not scheduled during prime time. National coach Voss-Tecklenburg recently complained about the kick-off times for the World Cup qualifiers last fall. From 4:05 p.m. the ball rolled against Bulgaria – the men, on the other hand, are allowed to play in prime time.
So it’s no wonder that public interest is limited and the average attendance of the Bundesliga teams is less than 2,000 visitors per game, while in Barcelona the Camp Nou with 85,000 seats is also sold out for women’s games.
The DFB is therefore jointly responsible for the lack of income from women’s sport. Arguing with lower revenues is nothing more than a flimsy excuse to cover up the fact that the DFB, which is recognized as a non-profit organization, has clear priorities – to the detriment of football women.
Employers should also ask themselves which structures make it more difficult for some employees than others to perform well. It can be unfair if remuneration is only based on supposedly objective criteria such as revenue or profit if everyone does not have the same opportunity to meet the requirements. In the worst case, it then ends up like with the national soccer teams, where the same title is worth different values to one’s own association. Depending on whether they are teammates.
More: What companies can learn from innovations in women’s football