Female Footballers Matter: Timeslive Coverage of South Africa’s Women’s Football Team Performance At 2023 FIFA World Cup

Abstract

South Africa’s national women’s football team, as in many countries, has for many years been overshadowed by their male counterparts in terms of remuneration and recognition despite enjoying more success. This paper analysed eleven articles on South Africa’s national women’s football team performance at the Women’s World Cup which appeared in TimesLIVE e-newspaper between 15 June 2023 and 17 August 2023 which was a period before, during and after the tournament. These reports were purposively sampled and analysed to understand their success in exposing differential treatment of women in relation to men’s football. Intersectionality, a theory which recognizes women’s different experiences based on race, class, education, sexuality among other categorizations, was employed as a lens through which to conduct the study. Critical discourse analysis was a methodology used to analyse the use of language in the selected articles. Findings revealed that TimesLIVE provided the team with a positive coverage which, even though biased, augured well for the recognition and empowerment of women. The team’s media coverage also exposed differential treatment of women’s football in relation to men’s football which resulted in a positive response from the government and businesses to address the raised issues.