Women in Football
by Mishelle
Mishelle, our Young Ambassador to Costa Rica, writes about women in football and explores the origins of the first women’s football team in Central America. Mishelle reminds us that back then, women were judged and discriminated against in sport more than ever and that it look a lot of courage for women to overcome gender stereotypes and pave the way for women and girls in football today!
‘From high heels to football boots’
My name is Mishelle, I am the young Ambassador to Inspiring Girls Costa Rica. I felt compelled to write about the first women’s football team in Central America, as I believe it is very important to demonstrate the impact of women in this sport throughout history as too often women are written out of history!
I always asked myself why could men play football and women were looked at in a bad way if they did it? Why were women who played this sport called “tomboys”? These and many more questions have been asked by myself and thousands of women for a long time, until the Bonilla Alvarado brothers founded a women’s football team as a way to honor their father.
In 1949, Deportivo Femenino Costa Rica F.C was born, a team made up of women who gave an unexpected twist to the history and stereotypes of that time. Some of these women were: Dora Bonilla, Hilda Ocampo, Vera Padilla, María Eugenia Páez, María Cecilia Rojas, María Teresa Montero, Julieta Zúñiga, Carmen Morales, María Elena Valverde, among others.
Let’s not forget that at that time women were judged and discriminated against if they performed activities outside of what society considered was their ‘role’. Therefore, the women that were keen to play football played secretly during a whole year to prevent any negative attention.
It was not until March 26, 1950, when Deportivo Femenino Costa Rica F.C. played the first match in the history of Costa Rica at the National Stadium in La Sabanam. A momentous and revolutionary day for women throughout Central America.
The impact of this great act of rebellion and empowerment, where thousands of stereotypes and fears were overcome, inspired many women, empowering them to join the football team and demonstrate their skills, in order to achieve a change in the mentality of society and, furthermore, thousands of benefits that we can enjoy today were created, such as the freedom to play this sport without being discriminated against.
“From high heels to football boots” is a documentary film by Vladimir Fonseca, based on the history and creation of Deportivo Femenino Costa Rica F.C, where we can witness some of the problems that women had to face in a completely patriarchal, machista society and how they overcame them and powered through in the face of adversity.
Just as these women put aside words, and demonstrated with acts what they were capable of, we must continue to do so today, by leaving our mark in history!