Outdoor > Culture & Context
HAVAS MIDDLE EAST, Dubai / ADIDAS / 2024
Awards:
Overview
Credits
Why is this work relevant for Outdoor?
The Female Field transforms an entire football pitch into an ambient outdoor medium to deliver a message about the much needed equality in sports across the Middle East.
By making one small change to a marking on the field, it turns the entire pitch into a visual statement that can be replicated by any woman anywhere.
That is what makes this work relevant for outdoor.
Please provide any cultural context that would help the Jury understand any cultural, national or regional nuances applicable to this work.
In the Arab world, sports have always been looked at culturally as not being appropriate for women. As a result of this belief being perpetuated for generations, most young Arab girls feel discouraged from pursuing sports and grow up believing that there is no room for Arab women in the professional sports world. In fact, 73% of them give up on sports by the age of 14.
Background:
Most young Arab girls hailing from conventional families grow up believing that sports are not for them. Because traditional Middle Eastern society has always insinuated that sports are not appropriate for women.
Resulting in 73% of young Arab girls giving up playing sports by the age of 14.
Ironically, in the Arabic language, most words associated with sports have a female gender. Words like ball, run, kick, jump, goal, shoot, pass and even the word sport itself are female words.
All these words end with the Arabic letter "Ta'Marbuta". Written as a circle with two dots on top.
This letter is what gives Arabic words their female gender.
Describe the Impact:
- 165% increase in sign-ups for all-girl training programs
- +220 million reach across 19 countries
- 38 female fields organically created by communities across Dubai
- The female field is being taken to regional federations such as Saudi Arabia Football Federation, Saudi Pro League, and Al Nasr Club, who are all currently working towards elevating their women's football divisions.
Please tell us about the social behaviour and cultural insight that inspired the work.
Sports have always been perceived as taboo for women across many countries in the Middle East. While restrictions are not enforced anywhere, traditional mindsets still prevail in many societies that believe that many sports are inappropriate for girls, especially after a certain age.
Resulting in many young girls growing up to believe that pursuing their sports passions isn't something meant for them.
In this same region, the language spoken by millions has a surprising irony built in. All sports-related words, the same words that people use to propagate that sports are meant for men, are all in fact female in gender.
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