On another tack - just while I think of it ....
NZ - on the surface - seems to be fairly accepting of women's football and women fans.
Anyone got any thoughts as to why this may be? Any experiences that suggest that it isn't?
I think it is, up to a point, and it's getting better (probably related to how well the Ferns are doing), but it's still a bit of a veneer I suspect. I'm talking mostly about the acceptance of female footballers more than about acceptance of female fans here which may be off topic I'm not sure.
When you talk to female footballers and ask them directly, they will still often tell you that they are not afforded the same respect as their male counterparts. Changing rooms at sports fields are still mostly set up for men with urinals etc. Women's games are played on Sunday without the buzz around the clubs you get on Saturdays. Their team budgets often aren't as big as their male counterparts even when they might be playing several divisions higher than their clubs' men's first team. Their games aren't promoted as much as the men's side of their clubs.
One example is a national women's cup quarter final I attended last year that preceded a Sunday men's game. At full time, with Glenfield Rovers (eventual champions) having claimed a massive scalp, the ground announcer piped up for the first time that day and said "welcome to McFetridge Park" and proceded to read out the men's line-ups as though the women didn't exist. Might seem like a little thing to some but it sends a signal about how the women's team is valued.
I've ranted on here before about the double standards that women in coaching face. When they have a run of bad results it's assumed they are not up to it because they are women. The fact that, in any given season, there is only one female coach in the Northern League at best is explained away by saying "the best person for the job is appointed" - implying that women don't cut it.
Women's football and women fans are 'accepted' - yes. Tolerated might be another way of saying it or that could be a little unfair. But do we have equality? Not even close I suggest.