Girls celebrate after scoring a goal during a soccer match, as part of a project that trains and seeks new talent for the sport, in Sao Paulo, Brazil July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Carla Carniel
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Camila Lujan Gomez Cabrera, an 18-year-old Paraguayan immigrant from Buenos Aires's Villa 31, boards a public bus every day to the hours-long soccer practice for her team in Argentina's professional league.
As a reserve player she has no salary, so she can't enjoy the luxuries of top male players, who can earn thousands of dollars a month. Instead, Gomez Cabrera has to juggle a part-time nannying job beside strenuous practices.
South America's poorest neighbourhoods have birthed some of its greatest soccer stars, from Maradona to Pele, who often spur local pride and invest back into their communities.
But with the professionalisation of the women's sport still in its earliest years and wages lagging far behind men's salaries, making it big through soccer is still a far-off dream for women in South America's barrios.
"Until it’s equal, we women players are always going to need another job, because they don’t even pay us half of what they pay the men, who live comfortably from this," Gomez Cabrera said.
As the Women's World Cup kicks off on July 20, female players across the region hope the visibility of the tournament will help them reach new heights.
SOCCER'S TRANSFORMATIVE POWER
At 58-years-old, Monica Santino said she dreamed of playing soccer professionally when she was a girl in the working class Boedo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. But as a teenager, she was kicked off the pitch and insulted for her love of the game, so she abandoned her dream.
"It was frustrating because it was what made me happy, what reflected my identity, and it couldn't be," Santino said.
Now, Santino runs girls’ soccer program La Nuestra in the Villa 31, where Gomez Cabrera has played for nearly a decade. The teenager and another La Nuestra player recently became the pride of the programme when they made the Defensores de Belgrano team.
Santino believes in the transformative power of soccer, particularly for girls who are often stigmatized and discriminated against based on their area code.
"For girls or adolescents, playing soccer here means recovering their dignity, and recovering pride for their neighbourhood," said Santino.
In Brazil, where some women players from humble beginnings have managed to make it big, national player Christiane Rozeira has sponsored a youth soccer academy in Sao Paulo with the same goal of using soccer to transform lives.
"My dream is to play for Brazil and big European teams," said 16-year-old Search for a Star participant Gabrielle Cardoso. "And also win a World Cup."
STRUGGLES ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA
Yet across South America, women professional players struggle to make a living from the sport, balancing second jobs and household duties while their male counterparts are able to focus on training full-time.
Captain of the Olimpia team in Paraguay, Paola Genes, works at the National Cancer hospital in the mornings and trains at night, all while balancing being a new mum to 14-month-old Gael.
"For male players, the money is more than enough to do what they want, and for us, it's to live the day-to-day but just barely – and that's only if you are from one of the biggest clubs," Genes said.
Nicole Pereira, 19, from a favela in Rio de Janeiro, plays for the Rocinha Soccer Club. But the lack of financial support has been a deterrent to her hopes of building a soccer career in Brazil and then the United States.
"Some girls have help from their parents and I don´t. I can't pay for my transport, I can't pay for my meals," said Pereira, who said she has fainted while playing because she can't afford a proper athlete's diet.
Becoming a soccer star is a common dream for boys and girls alike where Pereira grew up. The difference lies in the opportunities and support they're given, she said.
"How can we realize our dream to become top players if they don't give us a chance?" Pereira said.
A BETTER FUTURE
Nevertheless, women’s soccer is gaining more traction and allowing girls like Pereira and Gomez Cabrera to imagine opportunities far beyond the confines of their home neighbourhoods, especially as the Argentina women's team travels to the World Cup for fourth time and Brazil for the ninth time.
"The younger generation is going to be able to enjoy it," said Laurina Oliveros, the goalkeeper for Argentina's Boca Juniors who is travelling to the tournament with Argentina, although she won't play due to an injury. Oliveros works part-time as a girls' soccer instructor.
"They aren't going to have to go through what we went through."
(Reporting by Lucila Sigal and Anna-Catherine Brigida in Buenos Aires, Daniela Desantis in Paraguay, Lucinda Elliott in Uruguay, Leandro Benassatto in Sao Paulo, and Sebastian Rocandio in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
