Will the ‘Iron Roses’ bloom forever? women's football in China

Changes and challenges

Bibliographic Data

ID12676404
AuthorsFan Hong (0000-0003-1730-7861, De Montfort University, corresponding author), J A Mangan (De Montfort University)
Year2003
Volume4
Issue2-3
Pages47-66
Publication date2003-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSoccer and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1466-0970 • E-ISSN: 1743-9590
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14660970512331390825
OpenAlexW2049066825
LanguageEN
Citations received7

Since the 1980s football has become one of the fastest-growing female sports in China. Female players have forced their way into this traditional bastion of male identity and prestige with confidence, and in doing so, have projected radical and successful images of femininity. The national team obtained second place at the Third World Cup and won the Asian Cup and the Asian Games ten times. (Note: They are different competitions.) The Chinese proudly call them ‘Iron Roses’. With these successes behind them they were used recently as models to inspire Chinese male footballers to qualify for the World Cup in 2002. Women football players strongly challenge traditional Chinese culture and symbolize the ideal gender relations of post-1949

Advertising · Business · China · Femininity · Football · Ideal (ethics · League · Media studies · Political science · Prestige · Sociology · Sociology of sport · Gender Studies · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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