The atmosphere in the stadium was electric. The cement walls vibrated with excitement as people stood and cheered every play. It was so loud that my daughter and I held our hands over our ears for most of the game. By the time it was over our voices were horse and our smiles were wide.
By the final game we had re-entered the US and had made our way to a hotel in New Hampshire. The bar of the hotel filled with people as dozens came together to cheer the US team. Men, women, and children stood together waiting for the final buzzer to sound. For many it was a summer highlight.
But the excitement of last summer was slightly diminished when conversations turned to some serious inequities that exist between the men and women's teams, such as this one from Quartz in July. Last month more articles were published in light of the fact that 5 of the women filed a complaint of wage discrimination. Business Insider has a good article to explain some of the details.
Hopefully we are finally at a place where we can continue these conversations and not dismiss the complaints.
Want to help your child learn more about women's soccer? Hand him or her a biography. Here's a great one about Mia Hamm.
Hopefully we are finally at a place where we can continue these conversations and not dismiss the complaints.
Want to help your child learn more about women's soccer? Hand him or her a biography. Here's a great one about Mia Hamm.
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Those graphs in the Quartz link really illustrate the disparities. I'm not sure how the current lawsuit is going but when management said they were disappointed about the lawsuit and happy to discuss changes in compensation Hope Solo had this quote: "I've been on this team for a decade and a half, and I've been through numerous CBA negotiations, and honestly, not much has changed," Solo said. "We continue to be told we should be grateful just to have the opportunity to play professional soccer, to get paid for doing it." I've found that the "be grateful for what you have" line is true in a variety of industries whenever you ask for more. Here's the article where I found that quote. http://espn.go.com/espnw/sports/article/15102506/women-national-team-files-wage-discrimination-action-vs-us-soccer-federation
ReplyDeleteEquality regarding this is actually correct I believe as the society has been male dominating from the past and women are always deprived from what they deserve, even in this era this thing is relevant and can be seen easily. If a male cricket team wins world cup its a matter of national pride but when its about women team few of the channels will telecast the news and people might not remind their name too.
ReplyDeleteRegards:
latest sport news
The difference between Men and Women's sports always amazes me--but the soccer numbers shocked me! The Daily Show had a great segment last month about the gender discrimination of the US soccer teams that I highly recommend.
ReplyDeleteSuper jealous you got to go to the World Cup! Unfortunately, they didn't have any of the full competition games in my area of Canada so I had to watch on TV but it was a blast having it here in Canada!
Lauren @ SERIESous Book Reviews #Commenting365