Framing Gender Equality: Narratives in FIFA Women’s World Cup Bid and Legacy Documents (1991–2023)

Abstract

The promises and limitations of leveraging sports mega-events for gender equality have long been debated within sport sociology and international development, with concerns that such events often prioritise symbolic visibility over structural transformation. While bid and legacy frameworks increasingly acknowledge the importance of gender equity in sport, progress remains uneven and is constrained by institutional inertia and inconsistent implementation. These tensions are particularly visible in the FIFA Women’s World Cup (FWWC), which has emerged as a central platform for advancing gender equality in global sport. This dissertation critically examines how gender equality has been framed and mobilised across FWWC bid and legacy documents from 1991 to 2023. It examines the narratives, commitments, and silences within host nation promises, considering the extent to which discursive framings translate into enduring structural change. Adopting a qualitative design within a critical inquiry paradigm, the study draws on feminist theory, intersectionality, and the capabilities approach. Critical Discourse Analysis and Reflexive Thematic Analysis supported by NVivo software, were employed to interrogate fifteen publicly available FIFA and host-nation documents.

The findings reveal six themes, including four core themes: participation and structural access, empowerment and leadership, institutional framing and governance, and representation and media narratives. While gender equality increasingly features in tournament rhetoric, implementation is inconsistent, and progress remains vulnerable to post-event regression. Three recommendations emerge. First, FIFA must embed enforceable accountability measures, ensuring gender equality commitments extend beyond rhetoric. Second, host nations should integrate FWWC gender initiatives into national and regional policy frameworks, bridging global directives with local realities. Third, academics must monitor and evaluate these efforts, generating evidence-based insights that create feedback loops between policy and practice. By synthesising these findings, the dissertation advances scholarship on sport governance and offers pathways to strengthen the long-term legacies of gender equality in women’s football.