‘Girls on the field’ in Turkey: negotiating gender anxieties and norms through football

Abstract

Kızlar Sahada (Girls on the Field) is a private women’s football tournament and league in Turkey. Its founding principle is to ‘empower women’ by challenging gender norms. Participating in Kızlar Sahada induces gender anxiety as women navigate a predominantly male space. This leads them to negotiate gender norms, both reproducing and challenging them, mainly through three themes: strength/power, skill/authority and ambition/aggression. Women’s participation in football does not automatically allow them to critique gender norms but it can reveal discursive and practical spaces for possible, albeit incoherent, negotiations. This article is based on qualitative research conducted between 2016 and 2017 including in-depth interviews with founders, players, coaches and a referee and participant observation through playing for one of the competing teams.