We are in the midst of a heat wave and getting a workout in is the last thing on my must do list. So when it is simply unimaginable to think of movement, I have enjoyed my breaks in front of my fan scrolling the news for positive events. Today I have collected for you some cool links offering good news for women in sport.
First out of the gate is this great story on the latest decision in Caster Semenya’s fight to participate in her sport without testosterone suppressing hormones. “Olympic champion Caster Semenya wins appeal against testosterone rules at human rights court” is the banner headline on the CBC News website. While this doesn’t mean Semenya can immediately return to her preferred running distance, it is considered a landmark decision because the judges believe Semenya’s human rights have been infringed by the sports authorities.
Second, let’s hear it for Christine Sinclair’s amazing achievement as the top scorer in the world. This story looks at Sinclair’s brilliant career and tremendous contributions to women’s soccer. Plus she’s Canadian!
Still with soccer, have you seen this wicked ad from France about women’s abilities on the pitch? The creators swapped out the women’s faces with men’s to show how skilled the women are and how bias influences perception. The ad agency’s goal was to show gender was not a factor in skill and should not be factor in supporting men over women as players.
The CNN story included this lovely quote: “For the majority of soccer fans (and that’s the problem), the general consensus is that ‘men’s soccer is better, faster, more interesting than women’s.’ We also know that soccer videos have a great success online,” an Orange spokesperson told CNN over email. For their campaign, “it was essential that during the first half of the video, viewers would think they were enjoying male actions and the only way to make believe that was to… reshape women into men!” As a way to garner interest in the Women’s Soccer World Cup now underway in New Zealand and Australia, the ad really made people stop and think.
Fourth and last for soccer, the Women’s World Cup will pay its players at least $30K US in this competition. It’s not on par with the Men’s World Cup player payments, but it’s a start. A group of players led the charge last year in their petition to FIFA; in addition to seeking a prize pool equal to the men’s, they also asked for the prize money to be paid directly to the players. While FIFA did not give parity, the global governing body for international soccer increased the prize money by three times the amount awarded in 2019 and they agreed to pay a chunk of the money to the players. The gold medal team members will earn $270K each in US dollars.
