Inspirational People: Vera Pauw
I’m starting an Inspirational People series, whereby notable figures in various walks of life are highlighted in my articles. The first post in the series focuses on Vera Pauw.
Pauw is a Dutch football coach and former player. She’s the current manager of the Republic of Ireland Women’s Football Team, and she has managed several international women’s teams in the past, including Scotland. She is the only girl in a set of triplets, and she grew up playing football on the street with her brothers. When she reached the age at which she could no longer play in boy’s teams, her parents wrote to the Dutch FA who allowed her to play and work her way up in the women’s game, eventually captaining the women’s national team in the Netherlands. She became the most capped player in the country, even beating the longest serving men’s players. She became a woman leading the way for others.
However, this was early 2000s, and not much has changed in her country. As the first woman to lead a national team in the Netherlands, it seemed like it was the start of something new. But since this achievement, only one other woman has been appointed a national team coach in the Netherlands - the head coach of the national hockey team. No other women have been appointed, even for women’s teams. How come women are approached differently?
The Dutch FA asked The University of Utrecht to conduct a study investigating whether mixed gender football benefits the development of both boys and girls, and the outcome was remarkable. Girls who played mixed gender football presented with a much higher self esteem than those who did not play. Girls who played mixed gender football knew about their future career direction around four years earlier than girls who did not play. Girls who played mixed gender football were injured on fewer occasions than those who played girls only football. Boys, coaches, parents and spectators all displayed a more inclusive approach to the sport when the matches and training were mixed gender.
Growing up, Pauw feels she did not have the same opportunity as her brothers when trying to pursue a career in football. Following her playing career, she helped to develop the Eredivisie Vrouwen, the Dutch women’s professional football league. Now, the top Dutch teams are no longer blocking female players from developing to the top level, and it offers a pathway for women to pursue a career in the professional game in the same way that men can. Women have the same rights as men to develop their talent, and Pauw felt that this was not the case in the Netherlands. She felt that people believed the system could not be changed, and that women were just excluded because it was a men’s game. She did something about it. She brought about change.
