In war-torn northern Uganda, where gender inequality is rampant, women are disproportionately affected by a seemingly endless civil war. Many females have been abducted from their homes and forced to serve as sex slaves. Women have been stripped of their dignity and girls deprived of their youth. They are impelled to live in dehumanizing displacement camps.
One organization, Girls Kick It, is working to empower these young, displaced women in East Africa using an unconventional means: soccer.
Many people pay little regard to such efforts, deeming this approach naive and rudimentary. Others go so far as to disparage it, arguing that the use of a recreational sport as a vehicle of change trivializes weighty issues. However, as a lifelong female athlete, I disagree with both of these claims.
To provide some context, I was raised in a family infatuated with sports and spent weekends tagging along to my older brother’s games, waiting for the day that I could put on a uniform myself. While my girlfriends watched Disney movies and dressed up Barbies, I played catch with my dad and shot baskets on our driveway. Throughout middle school, I played all the sports in the book and devoted weekends to soccer tournaments across the Midwest. In high school I played tennis, basketball and soccer– a sport each season. At Ithaca College, I am a member of the Women’s Club Soccer team and multiple intramural teams. Needless to say, sports have played a major role in my life.
As an NCAA commercial states, “There are over 380,000 student athletes and
almost all of them will be going pro in something other than sports.” Are these people oblivious to the fact that they won’t make it to the big leagues? Probably not. Are we simply wasting our time? Certainly not. The lasting impacts of athletics go far beyond the sports themselves.
It is difficult to pinpoint or verbalize the extent to which sports have influenced my life outside of the athletic realm. However, the lessons of teamwork, leadership, goal-setting, time management, and self-discipline that I have acquired through my participation in athletics are beneficial in all aspects of life. Perhaps even more importantly, sports have given me a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging and an internal confidence. Call me crazy, but these things are exactly what the displaced women of Uganda need.
Since 2006, Girls Kick It has worked with over 300 girls, ages 9-26, in internally displaced person camps, providing them with athletic games, team-building and leadership-building activities. Girls who were previously confined to the home and heavily dependent on their male counterparts, have demonstrated new- found confidence and the belief that they have control of their futures.
In order for social change to occur in developing countries, women must play a major role in organizing efforts. Females must demand attention to and be intimately involved in addressing key issues such as HIV/AIDS, health and nutrition, raising children and education– critical issues that often do not receive the attention they deserve in societies where men are the primary decision makers.
The first step is empowerment.
Teaching women to play soccer gives them an identity, a voice. Success on the field gives them confidence to try and achieve academic and other life goals. Sports are a tool for personal and group development. The women learn to unite toward a common goal and begin to recognize that they too can lead. In addition, studies show that when girls have a commitment at an early age, they are less likely to marry young, get pregnant or contract HIV.
For decades, bureaucrats and international organizations have failed to bridge the gap between men and women. Why not look for a more innovative approach to change and empowerment? Why not give the ball a chance?