FIFA as facilitator of gender equality? The ban against women in Iranian football stadiums

The willingness and capacity of international sport governing bodies to act as advocates of human rights has been controversially discussed. While the world governing body for football, FIFA, has claimed to promote gender equality, the liberal ideas of the Global North can encounter substantial political and cultural misfits in the Global South. In order to examine whether FIFA can indeed facilitate gender equality in sport even in face of cultural misfits and strong domestic resistance, we studied the stadium ban against women in Iran. Inspired by a policy translation perspective, we expected that FIFA’s attempts to end the ban would facilitate a complex process of policy translation which could produce policy outcomes significantly different from FIFA’s intentions. We examine our ideas by means of expert interviews conducted in two waves among football managers, officials and female fans. Our findings are in generally supportive of our conceptual approach. FIFA succeeded in forcing Iran into concessions. Yet, these concessions remain contested among the political elites, reflect primarily opportunistic rationales and are practically limited. The findings suggest that FIFA can to some extent enforce human rights but not in a linear manner. Concerning attempts to mitigate gender inequalities, the study suggests that it might be wise to focus on incremental improvements and their solidification.