Female breeze in Turkish football: Real life stories

Aim: This research has been carried out with the purpose of identifying how and when the femae footballers started their carreers, their football experiences, football lives and the problems they have faced in women's football. Female football players have always taken backseat in football just as they have done in many branches of sports. Social gender viewpoint in our country causes women to keep away from football. Material and Method: In the study, scanning technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods, has been used. Thirty female footballers playing in the Turkish Women's Leagues (1st, 2nd and 3rd leagues) have been interviewed face to face and the answers of 26 players have been evaluated. Semi-structured interview form has been used in order to gather the research data. The form comprises 17 questions. Results: It has been confirmed in the research that female footballers' families supported them when they were led to football, that they were not supported by the visual or printed media and the society at an expected level, that female body is used as an image at the media, that these players are exposed to gendered discourse via sexual discrimination within the scope of social gender perception and that sports-fans do not regard as worth watching the women's football matches because they consider the effort-demanding sports (such as football, boxing and weight-lifting) as male sports. Conclusion: It has been cocluded that women are prevented from football as a result of the fact that the society carry the idea that female football should not take place among the sports pertaining to women, and that visual and printed media have insufficient broadcast about female football, that sexual discrimination against women is reflected in female football as well. Key Words: woman, female football player, gender discrimination