60th anniversary of SI-Club Frankfurt and of Soroptimist International of Germany

Presentation of the Dr. Gabriele Strecker award to Steffi Jones

24th June 2012

“Ninety Minutes of Freedom”: so read the title of an almost full-page report published in the FAZ in 2006. “Ninety Minutes of Freedom”. The sub-header, “With football in the new world: the Berlin Women’s team play in Iran, in order to strengthen the role of the country’s women. For the first time women have been allowed to enter the stadium as spectators and support the national women’s team in Teheran.”

I was impressed by the content of this article and the importance which the FAZ rightly attributed to this event. As a Soroptimist I greatly value the potential role women’s football plays for women’s emancipation all over the world. My enthusiasm can perhaps also be put down to the fact that, as a child growing up in the 1950s, I played a kind of football with my older brother, but lacked the courage to fight for the permission to play ‘proper football’ in my own right.

The FAZ article has had a prominent place on the noticeboard above my desk for a long time. It’s author, Swantje Karich, is a double-talent. She is a professional journalist, but is also a member of the Kreuzberger Ladies’ Football Club.

Something unprecedented played out in 2006. While Germany prepared herself to be the World-Cup host, a fairy-tale came also true in the Islamic Republic of Iran. After an adventurous odyssey [doesn’t translate into English, we’ll need to rephrase it], a friendly match between the Iranian Women’s squad and the Berlin Kreuzberg team was finally permitted. Two women from the Berlin team, together with an Iranian documentary film-maker took the opportunity to film this groundbreaking event in order to show the world what can be achieved via Sport. The result, “Football under Cover”, premiered in 2007 before a delighted audience. It was not the first film with a sporting content to enjoy enormous success. “Kick It like Beckham” had already played in German cinemas in 2002, and is a further example of a film which deals with the theme of self-assertion and integration in the context of women’s football.

The socio-political dimension of football has returned to me time and again. In 2009 I attended another important sporting event: the Rwandan International marathon, initiated by Soroptimist International Europe in cooperation with the Rwandan government. This year it was run for the 8th time. Soroptimist has to date 6 clubs in the country. We had originally introduced the marathon as a “Peace Marathon” in 2005 following the genocide which had torn the country apart.

In connection with the marathon I was able to meet Monika Staab, a German pioneer of women’s football. Since 2006 she has travelled all over the world as a FIFA advisor for women’s football, above all in problem-areas such as Myanmar [ often still ‘Burma’ in English!], North Korea, Iran, China, Laos, Cambodia, Jordan, Palestine, and the Lebanon. As a child Staab fulfilled her ambition to play football, and by her own admission even kicked a ball around while wearing her white Communion frock. During the press conference in Rwanda she reported on the feelings of hope, freedom, and increased self-worth that football afforded to women and girls. Therefore, let it be said: the emancipatory effect of women's football around the world can not be overestimated.

It will certainly come as no surprise to learn that last year the opening match of the Women’s Football World Cup was attended by 250 Soroptimists.

Women no longer want to stand on the sidelines. Dictators seem to both realise and fear the effects football has as a “Happiness Drug” on women, too, and take pains to prevent women from taking this “dream trip” into a freer world. For example, under Ahmedinedschad’s regime, women are forbidden from playing football in public. Teams normally play in closed sports’ halls, ‘protected’ from the eyes of men, or girls play in the street disguised as boys; hiding their hair under a baseball cap.

The single exception to this was the friendly game mentioned above, which was held in an open stadium. During the “Ninety Minutes of Freedom”, female spectators were permitted to take their places on the spectators benches, wave banners, cheer and applaud their teams, with no man present to curb their enthusiasm. Only a few chaperones, dressed in the black chador, took pains to ensure that no scarf slipped back too far. The visiting team, almost exclusively Turkish women from the Berlin Kiez neighbourhood, bound their hair under a tight headscarf for the game, wore a baggy jogging suit which kept their arms and legs covered, as did the Iranians. For 90 minutes football was the exclusive preserve of women, a courageous and impressive demonstration of the free-will of the rebellious Iranian women fighting for the right for self-determination: A small revolution when it came to more than offside or corner, but carrying with it the hope for fundamental human rights.

Throughout the entire 90 minutes, the male President of the Kreuzberger team was not permitted to enter the stadium, although he is himself Muslim, called out a lonely “Germany” from outside the fence when his players had scored the first goal. The result of the game itself was a 2:2 draw. A re-match in Germany is still being awaited, but has so far not been permitted.

The Iranian women’s football team was also not permitted to take part in the 2010 Youth Games in Singapore, because the women are obliged on religious grounds to cover their hair. The FIFA rules lay down the following:

Players wear a shirt, shorts, socks, shin-guards and boots.

Nothing more. Therefore, the officials concluded by taking this literally, hair coverings or scarves are not permitted

Lech Walesa spoke out on the importance of football as a political ‘valve’ in dictatorships in an interview held during the European Cup:

In Poland the Opposition met with the underground Solidarity movement as a football team. Sport also afforded the opportunity of political exchange, and the Communist regime had almost no opportunity at all to break up these meetings: it is virtually impossible to ban football, said Walesa, even in a dictatorship.

Finally, I would like to address Steffi Jones personally, but must rather leave this to Herr Professor Muller. Only to say,

When wishes no longer help, there has to be action. Ms. Jones, we Soroptimists hold this maxim in common with you.

We understand our mission as the obligation to work for human rights. We interpret our name, ‘sorores optimae’ today as ‘the best for women and girls’.

As an international women’s network we have always had those areas of the world in our sights in which the women enjoy fewer privileges as we ourselves. We are therefore grateful for all who work to support women’s football, because this itself has a positive and long-lasting effect on women’s self-esteem. For example, in those areas of Africa where girls play footbal, the rates of early pregnancy and HIV infection have greatly decreased.

As a "Global Voice for Women", we encourage women and girls to discover and develop their potential. This includes primarily unhindered access to education,
because education is a prerequisite for employment and income. Education alone, however, is not enough. Therefore we have set ourselves the task for the next 10 years to strengthen women as decision-makers. The “Educate to Lead” programme is our goal in all 126 countries, in which almost 90,000 Soroptimists contribute and take part. Women have to be involved in decision making at all levels of society and should be involved at the conference tables in conflict resolution.

Women all over the world must also have the right to the best possible medical care. And because a healthy mind in a healthy body offers in every case better conditions for development, we are also strongly committed to promoting healthy eating within families, especially the children.

In July of next year we are organizing in Berlin the 20th Soroptimist International of Europe Congress: "Visions of Paradise" - Soroptimists go for Water and Food ".We are so bold as to hold this event under the title "Visions of Paradise". Soroptimists are committed to water and food. In this science-based conference we want to pass on the latest results from research in water, agricultural and food sciences, and encourage individuals to act as ambassadors for their implementation in practice in their local communities. We advocate the provision of basic nutrition in Africa and are committed to promoting a healthy diet in industrialised nations. We denounce the speculation in agricultural commodities on the stock exchange, land grabbing in Africa and ecological depletion. We will present best practice models from hundreds of projects which we have initiated and carried out worldwide. We will put the accent on school and day care gardens, and show how the children in Kigali, Berlin, Kiev, and Lisbon have grown food and how it is then prepared.

Once a month a group of German Soroptimists want to make a particular sacrifice, by fasting for one day or doing without candy, for example. The money saved will benefit our projects for water and food.

Let me close by saying: we can be grateful today to see so many women leaders gathered here. The Emperors in Frankfurt’s majestic City Hall would certainly have been somewhat discomfited by the sight of this assembly with a view to their own future positions of power. We are particularly happy that you, Frau Oberbürger-meisterin Roth, have welcomed us here in your role as Hostess and Patron. We feel ourselves privileged to have been a part of your final days in office. You are renowned as a strong and positive role-model for women and girls.

I congratulate the Frankfurt Club for their decision to honour Steffi Jones with the Dr. Gabriele Strecker Prize.

Steffi, when you write in your autobiography, “The Thrill of Life”, ‘I have my mother to thank for everything that has made me strong’, then we have a confirmation of the just how much strength and influence on society women have.

If this influence can be developed by and through football together with your and all our help, then we will all be more than ready to say:

“Kick it like Steffi”

Kathy Kaaf