Nikolskaya Street, just a few hundred yards from the Kremlin, is where Mariana Zacarias was sexually harassed while doing her job. Like numerous other woman journalists, she was groped and kissed while covering the tournament.
With more women watching and working in football than ever before, stories like hers have drawn outraged reactions on social media, thrusting the problem of sexism and harassment into the spotlight at the world’s biggest sporting event. A man in a white T-shirt grabbed Ms. Zacarias’s head in both hands and forced his mouth onto her face as she struggled, microphone in hand, in front of the camera. She published the video online in a report for Mexican sports website Medio Tiempo.
‘Unpleasant, offensive’
During another broadcast, a passing man slapped her bottom. On a third occasion, another man grabbed hold of her. “It is unpleasant and offensive and it shouldn’t happen,” she said. “We are doing our job and you deserve respect, whether you are a man or a woman.”
A string of clips published online have shown fans kissing and groping reporters or singing obscene or insulting songs at woman fans. At least two women AFP journalists have been harassed by fans while covering the World Cup. One of them was groped and thrown in the air by fans celebrating a goal.
In Nikolskaya Street on one match night, AFP caught on film the moment a man grabbed and kissed Russian television reporter Yulia Shatilova.
Women journalists say they often hear men telling them they know nothing about the beautiful game. But more women appear to be watching and working in football than ever before, bringing the issue of sexism to the fore. A FIFA survey of television viewing figures across 25 key markets during the 2014 World Cup indicated that nearly 40% of viewers were women.
The London-based network Fare, which campaigns against discrimination in sport, named 44 women broadcasters involved in frontline broadcasting at the World Cup and said there were known to be “many more”.
“For the first time in the history of the tournament the general secretary of FIFA is a woman,” Fatma Samoura of Senegal, it said.
Russian activist Alena Popova launched a petition against fans who were filmed singing sexist chants.
“This is about a serious campaign for basic rights and personal boundaries for everyone, regardless of gender,” she said. “It is good that an international dialogue about this has started, thanks to the World Cup.”