「媒庫文選」當我還是小女孩時，被告知足球是男人的運動

Retrospect is a wonderful thing。 It allows you to – with a slightly more critical eye –see what led you here， how you turned into who you are and， hopefully， how society has changed and improved。

Take， for instance my first career goal。 I wanted， in 1999， to be a “farmers wife”。 Thankfully， after quick correction by my progressive parents， that morphed into “farmer”， but that only lasted until my dad told me you had to put your arms up cows‘ backsides。 Immediately， I re-thought my career path。 Archaeologist followed， and driving instructor after that， then somewhere along the way， footballer。

I had grown up in a football-loving family； my dad had played， and been one to watch in the Liverpool FC Boys squad until injury forced him out。 My parents met at Anfield and fell in love as teenagers， and my older sister Stevie trained with Crewe Alexandra Girls for a year or two as a left back just like our hero Jamie Carragher。

I remember the exact moment I told my dad I was interested in doing what my big sister did。 I was watching the game with him in the living room as a pre-teen and it just came out： “It makes me sad I can’t be a footballer。” He asked why not， and I answered： “Because I‘m not a boy。”

He immediately responded by telling me that women’s football was “great” and that I could play if I wanted to。 “Yeah， I suppose，” I responded “but no one watches women‘s football。” Looking back I can see exactly why I felt like that。

At school， there was an unwritten rule that sports like hockey and netball were “girl” sports and rugby and football were for the boys。 I’d never seen a women‘s football match on TV； the only female athletes I’d heard of were in the Olympics。

Representation is critical， and although we talk about it a lot， I‘m yet to be convinced that those who are represented often fully understand what it means to those who aren’t， and how， without really realising， it affects the decisions they make and the general trajectory of their life。 In the words of Marian Wright-Edelman， “you can‘t be what you can’t see，” and lack of representation leads， at best， to a misunderstanding and ignorance around a certain group of people， and at worst，fear， negative stereotypes and discrimination。

Today， the Lionesses will take on Scotland in the World Cup， and people across the world will tune in - over 950，000 tickets have been sold so far for the 2019 tournament。 But， although women‘s football has turned out to be one of FIFA’s best investments – with a pound for pound return， the majority of female players in top tiers are earning under what anyone would consider a fair wage， and only ￡24 million prize money was awarded to the women‘s World Cup victors in comparison to ￡315 million in the men’s。 That‘s a vast difference。

On Twitter you’ll find that the most popular defence of those figures argues that there‘s less money in the female side of the game because viewing stats are lower than those played by their male counterparts， but the truth is，investment is needed for female football to become more visible and become an equally respected game。 The rise in support over the last few years for it – and the Lionesses in particular – shows the demand is there， but without risk-taking， a self-fulfilling cycle that hampers progress will continue。 After all， there’ll always be less demand if you don‘t build awareness with supply in the first place。

Today， I’ll be cheering on the Lionesses， and“It‘s coming home” will mean more this time around， because it’ll means talented， skilful female footballers being broadcast into millions of homes and maybe， just maybe， a little girl believing that she too can be a Lioness one day。

回首往事是一件很美妙的事兒。這讓你得以——以比較批判性的眼光——看看是什麼引領你走到現在，你是如何變成現在的你的，而且還有機會看看社會發生了何種變化、有了何種改善。

比如我的第一個職業目標。1999年時，我希望成為“農人的妻子”。幸運的是，在被我具有進步思想的父母迅速糾正後，我的目標變成了成為“農人”，但等我爸爸告訴我當農婦需要把胳膊放到奶牛的屁股上後，這個目標就此打住。很快，我重新考慮了我的職業道路。接下來是成為考古學家，後來是駕駛教練，再後來的某個時刻，是成為足球運動員。

我成長於一個熱愛足球的家庭，爸爸曾經在利物浦足球俱樂部少年隊小隊中踢球，而且是一名受關注的球員，但後來因為受傷被迫退出。我父母年少時在安菲爾德球場相識並墜入情網。而我的姐姐史蒂維在克魯亞歷山大女子足球隊訓練了一兩年，就像我們的英雄傑米·卡拉格一樣是左後衛。

我還記得我告訴爸爸我對大姐所做的事情感興趣的那一刻。當時我還不到13歲，正和他一起在客廳裡看比賽，我順口說了一句：“真遺憾我不能成為一名足球運動員。”他問為什麼不能，我回答說：“因為我不是男孩子。”

他立即作出迴應，告訴我女子足球“很了不起”，而且如果我想踢球就可以去踢。“我猜，是吧，”我回答說，“但沒有人看女子足球呀。”現在回過頭來看，我可以完全明白自己為什麼會有那種感覺。

學校裡有一條不成文的規定，曲棍球和籃網球是“女生”運動，而橄欖球和足球是給男生玩兒的。我在電視上從來沒有看到過女子足球比賽，我聽說過的女運動員都是在奧運會上。

代表性是至關重要的。儘管我們就這個問題有過很多討論，但仍然無法讓我信服，那些得到代表的人通常能夠充分理解對沒有得到的人來說這意味著什麼，而且在沒有意識到這一點的情況下，它又如何影響著他們所做的決定，以及他們整體的人生軌跡。用瑪麗安·賴特·埃德爾曼的話說，“你無法成為你沒見過的人”，而缺少代表在最好的情況下會導致對特定群體的誤解和無知，最壞的情況則會導致恐懼、負面的刻板印象和歧視。

今天，母獅隊（英格蘭隊）將在世界盃上迎戰蘇格蘭隊，全世界的人們都將觀看這場比賽——迄今為止，2019年的比賽已經賣出了95萬張門票。但是，儘管女足最終成為國際足聯最好的投資——投入1英鎊就有1英鎊的收益——大多數頂級女運動員的收入仍然低於任何人都會認為的公平收入水平。女足世界盃的獲勝者獎金只有2400萬英鎊（1英鎊約會8。7元人民幣——本網注），而男足獲勝者的獎金為3。15億英鎊。這堪稱天壤之別。

在推特上，你會發現對於這些數字最流行的辯護是，女足比賽的獎金少是因為收視統計資料低於男足比賽。但真相是，要使女足更為人所知併成為一項受到同等尊重的比賽，就需要對女足進行投資。過去幾年對女足——尤其是母獅隊——的支援增加表明存在這種需求，但是如果不冒一點險，一種阻礙進步的自我實現的迴圈就會繼續。畢竟，如果從一開始就不樹立起供給意識，需求就會減少。

今天，我將為母獅隊加油，而且這次“足球要回家了”將有更多的含義。因為它將意味著擁有天賦、技術嫻熟的女足球運動員，將透過電視走進千家萬戶，而且或許，僅僅是或許，一個小女孩會相信她有朝一日也可以成為母獅隊中的一員。（劉曉燕譯自英國《每日電訊報》網站6月9日文章）