Brazilian Companies faking equality during the Women's Football WC

Some Brazilian companies established that their employees could work from home when the National Team plays a match on the Women's Football WC.

Brazilian First-Round matches are at 7 and 8 AM. So working from home will make it easy to watch these games.

Even though Brazil is a sportive country, I can't recall any other sports event that changed the companies' schedules in such a way, except for the Masculine Football WC, which is the most important event for the country.

Football in South America

The popularity of football in South America is in another dimension, especially in countries like Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil.

In the last WCs, celebrated in Russia and Qatar, the number of fans of these countries who traveled to assist the competition was enormous, considering the distance and costs involved in getting there.

We can safely say that the relationship we have with football is unhealthy. The most evident issue is the violence surrounding the sport here (we don't need to go any far back in time to find the last murder in a game). But also, as an economic example, many people resigned from their jobs and got into debt to travel to the events.

As part of this popularity, it is expected that during the World Cup, every company and person change their lives to fit in the WC agenda.

Men's WC traditions

The World Cup's year is unique. Everyone is looking forward to it. Children paint the streets in front of their houses, Brazilian flags everywhere, and the anxiety and expectation for that month are incredible.

The Match Days' are almost holidays. Families gather together as on Christmas, The bars are packed, and everything is cheer.

Companies adapt to that. Depending on the match's time, they can either suspend or modify the shift so that people can enjoy the game. Whether this is correct is debatable, but it is the only event in which something like that happens.

And during the matches, the streets are empty. Everyone is watching the game.

Popularity of Women's WC

The feminine version of the sport hasn't achieved the popularity of the masculine one yet. Many women are football fans (they watch, play, or both), but they usually follow the men's league and National Team.

Considering this, the suspension of in-person work adopted by some companies has no sustentation. Other more popular women's sports (like volleyball) don't have this benefit. So what's the reason for creating this exception?

Equality or Hypocrisy?

Considering the tournament's low engagement and the use of this WC as women-empowerment propaganda, the apparent reason is consistency in the actions adopted in men's and women's WCs.

It seems to be a superficial way to show (false) equality.

If employees feel that male and female colleagues don't have the same opportunities, the company promoting the WC won't make them feel any better.

On the other hand, if they feel that everyone is equally considered, they won't care whether the company fosters the tournament.

Using this kind of initiative as a symbol of women's respect or empowerment makes no sense. The level of social commotion that the Masculine WC generates is astonishing. The actions taken during that event can't be considered sexist. Companies don't make these exceptions because of the WC. But they make them because of what happens in the country while the WC occurs.

The Women's National Team will increase its popularity in the future, generating more and more engagement with the population. Different exceptions for the matches' days can be implemented when that moment comes. But doing that today results in a forced attempt to pass off some equality sensation that doesn't exist.