At many companies, societal gender roles rule the workforce: Women earn less than men, they get promoted less frequently and generally have less power. No organization is immune to these forms of systematic sexism, especially FIFA, which has never appointed a woman to a non-gender based position on the FIFA Council.
In a historic first step toward reversing that course, the organization appointed Nigeria's United Nations coordinator Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura to Secretary General on Friday, permanently replacing Jérôme Valcke, who was banned from FIFA in February for 12 years on corruption charges. Samoura will have different tasks from what Valcke managed, but the Senegal citizen will still wield huge power and influence. FIFA's recent restructuring separates powers, which actually empowers her role within as Secretary General even more -- a legitimate first for women working in high-level FIFA jobs.
"I also look forward to bringing my experience in governance and compliance to bear on the important reform work that is already underway at FIFA. FIFA is taking a fresh approach to its work -- and I am eager to play a role in making that approach as effective and lasting as possible," Samoura said in a press release.
After Samoura passes her integrity check by an independent Review Committee, she'll secure a critical seat on the new FIFA Council, a strategic planning body that includes newly elected President Gianni Infantino, vice presidents and nation member representatives. As Secretary General, Samoura will be charged with implementing the council's plans through her leadership of the General Secretariat, FIFA's administration body. The General Secretariat controls FIFA's finances, business, competition organization and international relations, so the council can't dip any of their potentially corrupt mitts into the war chest. Previously, the much-criticized, male-dominated Executive Committee controlled all of that. Now, a woman does.
Tennis legend and LGBT advocate Billie Jean King hailed the decision on Friday, chiming in on Twitter to tacitly remind us of FIFA's disappointing history of treating women with respect.
Samoura's appointment seems to indicate that behavior like that of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter -- who once remarked that players should wear tighter shorts to “create a more female aesthetic” -- has no place in their Zurich, Switzerland, headquarters. Neither will examples of FIFA hiring a female anti-bribery expert as a consultant and then ignoring all of her suggestions. There are 123 countries with women's national teams, according to espnW, so simply having one woman fill the "female member of the executive committee" position (taken up by Burundi's Lydia Nsekera in 2013) won't do.
Soccer is a sport that millions of people compete in. The Women's World Cup was a hit in the U.S. last summer, and it's led to growth within the American women's game and their pay. Now that there's an experienced woman sitting at FIFA's table, women's soccer has gained its most powerful voice yet. Like King said, it's a first step in FIFA reforming and organizing itself to reflect the participation, professionalism and skill of women in soccer.
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