When she was 13 years old SV Bredorodes started a women's team which Pauw joined, and at the age of 18 she moved to VSV Vreeswijk to play at a higher level.

[1] Soon she arrived at the Netherlands women's national football team and from 1983 to 1998 played 89 international matches, but never qualified for the final tournament of a World Cup or European Championship.

[4][5] In September 1998, Pauw was appointed coach and technical director of Scotland, at the same time her husband Bert van Lingen was working as assistant manager of Glasgow Rangers.

Pauw explained that she had previously had a great deal of involvement with the South Africa setup due to the frequency of friendlies with the Dutch while she was managing them.

[16] Despite Ireland's narrow failure to achieve a play-off position from UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying Group I, Pauw agreed a two-year contract extension in February 2021.

The report claimed that during her time in charge of Houston Dash, Pauw attempted to exert excessive control over her players' and staff's diet, weight, fitness, training, housing, and location.