Kunga breaks gender barrier in sensitization and mentorship of football players

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FOOTBALL Kunga breaks gender barrier in sensitization and mentorship of football players

Abigael Wafula 12:00 - 12.05.2023

In addition to financial advise the ex footballer engaged the women on gender stereotypes, discrimination, and sexism in football

Inspired former footballer Herbert Kunga through his ‘Wacheza-Tu-Invest’ initiative, has crossed the gender barrier after taking his sensitization and mentorship campaign to Mathare United Women’s Football Team on Thursday may 11th 2023.

Through the campaign Kunga aims to break the intergenerational gap in football professionalism by ensuring that the current generation of footballers are acquainted with basic life skills beyond the football field.

During his visit to Mathare, Kunga’s main aim was to educate women on how to stand up for themselves despite all the challenges they are bound to face. 

The former City Stars player who has formed a positive partnership with betting firm Palms Bet aims to preach his investment gospel to every active player to forestall desperate scenes that retired players in Kenya have become synonymous with. 

In a lengthy post on his Facebook page, Kunga analysed some of the challenges facing women in the sport including the barrels of buoyant sexism on a daily basis, be it at work or even at home.

“This is especially the case when it comes to the sports industry. For too long, it has been dominated and reserved for men, the justification being that ‘women aren’t really into sports,” a section of the post read.

He added that women are faced with tons of challenges when it comes to the sports ecosystem premised on the arguments that sport has traditionally been defined, organized, promoted, and constructed as a male activity.

Some women have turned off 'sport' altogether because they see it as a male-dominated activity. He further explained that for many girls, being sporty is felt to be at odds with being feminine. 

“Female athletes have to face inequalities in funding and pay. There are always gross discrepancies between the incomes of male and female athletes. The women are always paid half or less of what is given to their male counterparts,” he added.

Kunga explained that other challenges women in sports experience are gender stereotypes, discrimination, and sexism. He noted that female athletes are objectified on the field, much as they are on the streets.

“From coaches to commentators, to the audience, women are looked at as commodities showcasing themselves for men’s pleasure, not as entities of potential and talent,” he said.

He added that another major challenge women are bound to face is representation. He explained that the coverage of women in sports is often dominated by references to appearance, age, or family life.

“Men are depicted as powerful, independent, dominating, and valued as athletes, women are discouraged from getting involved in certain sports because they don't have mentors or channels that represent who they are,” he concluded.

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