Bend It Like Beckham: Inequality In Social Geography

Social geography is a hugely important theme in human geography. Social geography is a vastly broad field of work that focuses its attention on the “socio-spatial differences, power relations, and inequalities that shape every person’s life” (Cloke et al, 2011).

Inequality is a sub-discipline of social geography which is highly debated across the social sciences. Definitions for inequality can vary, however. Inequality can be defined in terms of the absence of equality. For example, equality means that there is an even distribution of resources, in which every single person in a specific population gets an equal amount or an equal share of a resource such as wealth, income or possibly a “well-being measure such as health or education” (Hao and Naiman, 2010). There are many different strands of inequality as inequality can be found in the workplace, in gender and race, in opportunities. However, this essay will explore in detail gender inequality and racial inequality. More specifically, how gender inequality and racial inequality are portrayed in the film ‘Bend It Like Beckham’, and how this film has illustrated the differences in opportunities between male and female footballers, whilst also demonstrating how different races were treated in sports in the UK in the early 2000s. This essay will also contain examples from different countries in contrasting eras to be able to compare the differences in inequality and to be able to see if inequality has developed or changed in any way during that period.

Gender inequality is visible in the world of football in a wide variety of countries from all over the world. There are many examples that portray how the opportunities vary according to what gender you are. Football is an extremely male-dominated sport, although in recent times there has been an increase in participation of women in the sport, it is still considered ‘a man’s sport’. As a result of the amount of time and effort that men invest in football, they feel entitled to assume ownership of the game. Football is always stated as ‘open to all’, however, there are hidden norms and on some occasions even “open discouragement that prevents women from joining in with football” (Thorne, 1993). Studies that have used playground settings as a focal point have consistently found “gendered zones of play that prevent children from joining in cross-gender games without some sort of intervention” (Rich, 1999). This shows that men are conditioned from an early age that football is a man’s sport, further worsening the inequality.

Internationally, the participation of women in football has always found itself at the “apex of struggle against patriarchy, discrimination and other gender biases found in sport as a male preserve” (Hong, 2004). For example, South Africa has battled gender inequality for many years, and it still finds itself wanting in terms of gender equality. Ndimande-Hlongwa (2016) explains how the South African Football Association’s leadership positions are male-dominated. The main reason being that football has “from time immemorial been regarded as male preserve and widely seen as being not much more than an intramural recreational pastime for women” (Ndimande-Hlongwa, 2016).

The history of women’s football is complicated. This dates back to 1888 when the first recorded game of women’s football was played in Scotland (Williams, 2003). By 1921, women were discouraged from active participation through an increasing barrier to entry to the game. This was done through an access restriction to sports facilities in England. Furthermore, there was an implementation of legislation that sought out to ban female participation in Football (Pfister et al, 2002). Moreover, in Germany, women’s football teams found themselves banned from playing football as a result of an increasing belief in Germany which stated that women were “lesser” than men. This was as a result of women being vulnerable, weak and their bodies not being physically suited to play the physically demanding sport of football (Pfister, 2003).

Gender inequality isn’t the only form of inequality which is found in football. Racism in football is a huge problem, not just at the beginning of the history of the sport, or in the early 2000s, but even nowadays. Scraton et al (2005) published an article which focused on the experiences of Black women and one Indian (Hindu) woman in football in England to fully demonstrate the differences in inequality in the world of football. This research on women’s experiencing inequality in football stemmed from “previous research in feminist sports sociology. The initial work identified a major gap in knowledge about how race and ethnicity discrimination is experienced by women players” (Scraton et al, 2005). Only recently has there been an increase in the attention received for women’s football in England. This is reflected by the fact that, by 2002, the most popular sport for females in the UK was football, with over 61,000 registered players (Scraton et al, 2005). As a result of the increased popularity of women’s football in the UK, there has been an increase of investigations into allegations of inequality in the world of women’s football, as the sport is still widely considered by many as the national men’s sport in England, not the women’s. Scraton et al’s study (2005) highlighted how different regions in the UK can experience different numbers of inequality. For example, out of a total 769 registered female players in one specific region of England, 97% of the female players registered as White, 1.3% registered as African or African Caribbean, 1.2% Asian and 0.5% mixed race.

The film ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ is set in the early 2000s. A teenage Indian girl who has been brought up in England. She is infatuated with football, and as a result, idolises David Beckham who was an extremely popular footballer in this period. Jess dreams of being a professional footballer, as shown by the numerous scenes in which she is daydreaming about her aspirations. However, she realises this dream is out of reach as a result of her being a girl, as opportunities for female footballers in England were very scarce at the time. Furthermore, her highly conservative family won’t allow her to play as a result of her being a woman of Indian descent. Jules, another protagonist of this film who is also trying to make it as a professional footballer, discover’s Jess’s skills whilst on a run and therefore invites her to try out for the local women’s football team, “The Hounslow Harriers” which is coached by Joe. Jess impresses Joe with her footballing skills which lead to Joe offering her a spot on the team, Jess accepts the offer and deceives Joe when Jess tells him that her parents support this decision. Thanks to Jess and the talent in the squad, the Harriers reach the finals of the tournament. However, Jess’s parents inevitably discover that Jess has been playing football, which leads to them forbidding Jess from participating anymore. The final of the tournament, unfortunately, lands on the same day as Jess’s older sister’s wedding. Joe ends up begging Jess’s dad to allow Jess to participate in the final, but Mr Bhamra (Jess’s dad) refuses, after he reveals how he was excluded from a cricket club when he first moved to England as a result of being Indian, and he wouldn’t like Jess to suffer the way he did. Jess goes to the wedding instead of the football match, but halfway through her father allows her to go to the final, where the Harriers are currently losing at half-time. Jess shows up, they win the game, and due to a scout watching the game, he offers Jules and Jess a spot on the football team in the USA, which they proudly accept.

‘Bend It Like Beckham’ illustrates inequality in different forms throughout the film. Firstly, there are countless events which occur in the film which portray gender inequality. For example, there is a recurring theme in the film which depicts female football as a hobby at most, never a career. Female football is at constant ridicule, during the film, there are many jokes made about female footballers. For example, the group of boys that Jess plays football with, ask her constant inappropriate questions such as “Do you swap shirts at the end of the game?” or “Do you get in baths together after the game?”. When these same boys come to watch one of Jess’s football matches, the whole time they make sexist remarks towards the players, commenting on their breasts or bum, as opposed to their footballing skills, something which no one would be doing if they were watching a male football match. There are literature examples which portray this sexism towards women. For example, Clarke and Paecther’s study (2007) an in-depth analysis of female participation is undertaken. Girls and women have been excluded from sport and physical activity for a long period. This is due to the wrong perceptions of “women’s inherent weakness and fragility” (Clarke and Paechter, 2007). There have been improvements in the last century in which “female participation in physical activities has begun to gain acceptance”. However, despite this increase in participation, there are still multiple barriers which remain in place which impede girls and women from joining into male-dominated sports (Clarke and Paechter, 2007).

The movie ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ also depicts inequality in terms of racism. Throughout the film, there is a clear difference between what is expected of an Indian girl (Jess), in contrast to what is expected from a white girl (Jules). Jess is expected to follow in the footsteps of her older sister, the rest of the females in her family, and that is to learn how to cook, learn how to be someone’s wife, and eventually take part in an arranged marriage. Jess’s Indian parents both disapprove of football as a career, and won’t even consider it. Jules’ parents, however, are very different. Jules’ dad is happy to support her aspiring career in football, whereas Jules’ mum is worried that Jules is in a lesbian relationship because the stereotypical ‘sporty girl’ is attracted to females. During a football match, Jess experiences racism in football for the first time, as she is tackled roughly and unfairly, and when she gets up from the tackle the opposing player uses the racist term ‘Paki’ towards Jess. Ratna’s study (2010) portrays the same racism is encountered in everyday life for-Asian female footballers. When speaking to an ex-footballer, she speaks of the abuse she encountered. For example, she states that the vast majority of the teams they play against consist of all-white players, and this results in a lot of racism. They make remarks such as ‘Hope you ate enough chapattis’, and on multiple occasions, they have used the racial slur ‘Paki’ towards-Asian players (Ratna, 2010).

To conclude, C is a sub-discipline of social geography, which is a hugely important theme of human geography in itself. Inequality is illustrated recurrently during the film ‘Bend It Like Beckham’, whether the inequality portrayed is gender inequality or race inequality. The film revolves around the idea that female footballers don’t get an equal amount of opportunities as male footballers would in the UK in the early 2000s. Hoffman et al (2006) stated that women’s football is a sport which is played by rich countries, whereas men’s soccer is a sport of the masses. This sentence supports the themes which are depicted throughout the film, as the film revolves around inequality. Whether Jess is being denied opportunities as a footballer as a result of being female, or whether Jess is denied the chance to have these opportunities as a result of her being of Indian descent. However, other themes are explored in the film. For example, the theme of homophobia is briefly illustrated by Jess’s best friend, who explains to Jess that he is homosexual, and Jess’s reaction is of fear of what his Indian parents will think of this, as they expect their son to be married to a girl as it is arranged. Nevertheless, inequality is the focal point of the film, which shows the importance of inequality in how it can affect people in numerous different environments.