Was this tweet about the England women’s football team sexist?

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The management of the England women’s football squad has been accused of sexism, after it tweeted that its professional female football squad would “go back to being mothers, partners and daughters,” following the World Cup.

The ‘Lionesses’ as the England women’s squad is affectionately known, have just finished playing in the World Cup in Canada, and have just returned to the UK after being beaten by Japan in the semi-finals.

Tweeting yesterday, the official @England twitter account wrote: “Out Lionesses go back to being mothers, partners and daughters today, but they have taken on another title – heroes”.

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After an uproar, with many pointing out that the squad are professional athletes, and that it is unlikely for the FA to tweet the same about a male squad, the tweet was eventually deleted.

An FA spokesperson has since told the FA: “The full story was a wider homecoming feature attempting to reflect the many personal stories within the playing squad as has been told throughout the course of the tournament,” says an FA spokesman. “However, we understand that an element of the story appears to have been taken out of context and the opening paragraph was subsequently revised to reflect that fact.”

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Also at the World Cup, American forward Abby Wambach made the crowd go wild when she sprinted to her wife’s spot in the stands for a celebratory kiss after the United States 5-2 win against Japan..

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