Emma Hayes shares a feisty four-minute monologue on male privilege when questioned on Joey Barton’s sexist tirade against women football pundits – after the ex-manager called for the Chelsea boss to ‘cross into the men’s game’ in 2017

Emma Hayes launched into a four-minute rant about male privilege after the Chelsea manager was asked about Joey Barton’s controversial comments about female pundits.

On Wednesday, Barton shared a series of sexist posts on social media, saying women “shouldn’t speak to any authority” about men’s football.

The Chelsea manager has worked as a pundit and commentator on ITV for both men’s and women’s football. In 2017, Barton said he would like to see her “move into the men’s game”.

Hayes responded to a question about Barton, without mentioning his name, in a four-minute monologue that argued that a good surgeon does not have to be a good patient to perform operations.

“The reality is that male privilege has always been at the heart of football in this country,” Hayes said.

Emma Hayes gave a four-minute monologue about the systemic misogyny present in football

The Chelsea manager’s comments follow incendiary comments from Joey Barton suggesting female broadcasters should not be involved in the men’s game.

Barton has previously praised the head coach’s abilities as both a manager and an expert.

“Women were banned from playing football until the 1970s. I don’t expect any one person to understand their privilege, however, you only need to see a lot of women online or in business, whether you’re a presenter, a coach or a player, to understand that we are routinely taken advantage of. tackling systemic misogyny, bullying and behavior that was quite normal for large parts of the football public.

“The reality is that I find the debate interesting and we need to have it without getting personal, and I don’t mean any individual.

“But I feel like sport is the last place in society where male privilege exists, and so naturally, if I throw all Darwinism at us and talk about evolution, the reality is that when there is an existential threat, you either evolve or you die. It’s one or the other.

“I think when it comes to football we have to remember that society is not always that well represented in the media or in the game, both coaching and playing.

“Unless you’ve experienced systemic misogyny, as many of us have, you won’t be able to understand for a moment how harmful some of these conversations are, knowing that everything anyone says just leads to an absolute pile-on, especially on social media which, let me be clear: it doesn’t take much for people to pile on women. This is quite normal for many people who support football.

“So it’s a little sad, but it’s not that we’re having this conversation, we have to talk about the broader issue.

Hayes is one of the most decorated managers in women’s football, having won the Women’s Super League for the fifth time with Chelsea last year.

“But I want to highlight the positive, I want to highlight the positive contribution that many of us, myself included, have made in football as opposed to other professions.

“I have to say this because it always fascinates me, we are rarely in the hospital, and if we have a female doctor performing surgery on someone’s kidney, we often don’t turn around and say, that surgeon: ” I hope she was once a good patient, because being a good patient means you’ll be a good doctor.” Well, we know that’s not true.

“Talent and experience can help, as well as a good skill set. It’s the same with being a great banker. Does this mean you need to be frugal with your expenses to become a good banker?

— In the same way, do you need to be a well-traveled passenger to become a good pilot? I think we become less aware of our confirmation bias, but secondly, when there is an existential threat, what we do to become significant creates a lot of noise around a very, very, very interesting topic, but maybe we could have done it better in a different way.’