Women's World Cup players aim to break down remaining barriers for working mothers

AUCKLAND : Soccer-playing mums will be front-and-centre when the Women's World Cup kicks off this week in Australia and New Zealand after tenuous progress since the 2019 tournament for working mothers.

United States co-captain Alex Morgan will be travelling with her three-year-old daughter Charlie.

"I'm really grateful for the women before me that fought for mom athletes," said Morgan. "It's still kind of uncharted territory. So we're still trying to break down some barriers that exist."

It was not until December 2020 that FIFA approved rules that guarantee maternity leave for professional women footballers, a move the ruling body's President Gianni Infantino said was essential for the global soccer body to boost the women's game.

Under the regulations, a player is given 14 weeks maternity leave and clubs are obliged to retain her afterwards and provide medical support.

But while rules can help a player's career stability, changing the "culture of the sport" is more complicated, said Ali Bowes, a senior lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Nottingham Trent University.

"Athletes have talked about guilt around trying to pursue athletic pursuits and trying to be a mum, and that involves time away from the kids," she told Reuters.

"And then the discussion around kids and childcare and guilt and stuff is never talked about (in elite men's sport) because it's just that those social conventions around motherhood just really complicate them."

Bowes co-authored a 2021 study that showed professional women footballers in England also have concerns that they must choose between being a parent and a professional athlete.

"How are they going to be perceived as part of the team?" said Bowes. "How would they be looked upon? Would it be