U.S. Women’s Soccer Lawsuit for Gender Discrimination

By Charlotte Price

twenty-eight members of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team have been battling in the courtroom against gender discrimination by U.S. Soccer. And it seems that they have a good chance to win because of their performance on the field, and because of how much better they’ve been than the men’s team. In a Washington Post article by Alicia Jessop, she talks about how the lawsuit alleges gender-based pay discrimination under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Despite the team’s greater success than the men’s national team, the women have “consistently been paid drastically less”. The women won the 2015 World Cup and shared a bonus of $1.73 million, and the men LOST in the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup and still were able to split a $5.38 million in performance bonuses. The men also did not even make the 2018 World Cup.

The only problem in this lawsuit is the evaluation of whether members of the men’s and women’s teams perform the same job substantially. Historically, courts have upheld wage disparities between men and women in sports under assertions that men face greater physical and public pressures than women performing jobs in the same field. But those are just assertions, and the women are making that clear. Because of the women’s recent success on the pitch, team members have faced increased performance and public relations demands, while enjoying higher viewership ratings. Now all they are waiting for is that equal pay.

French Open 2019

By Charlotte Price

This year’s French Open will begin on Sunday, May 26th, and will come to a finish on Sunday, June 9th. It will take place in Paris at the Stade Roland-Garros. For women’s singles, only one of the 108 players entered directly into the main has a protected ranking, and that is Shelby Rogers from USA. Next, five French players will go straight into the main draw for women’s singles, which includes Carolina Garcia (No. 21) and Pauline Parmentier (No. 53). The rest of the 128 places in the women’s draw will be filled by 12 qualifiers and 8 wildcards.

Some women to keep your eyes out for are obviously Simona Halep, a Romanian and winner of the 2018 French open, Serena Williams, Maria Sakkari from Greece, Belinda Bencic from Switzerland, and Ashleigh Barty from Australia. To read more about these women, click here.

Women’s College Softball World Series 2019

By Charlotte Price

This year’s Women’s College Softball World Series will be held at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City from May 30th to June 5th, 2019. There will be eight teams who will compete in a double elimination bracket with the final two teams then competing in a best of three format. This is the 38th annual NCAA Division I Softball Championship and the 29th time that Oklahoma City and USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium – OGE Energy Field will host this premier college softball championship event

Leading up to the World Series, there will be the selection process and then the Selection Show on May 12th, which is when the bracket will be announced. After this, Regionals will take place from May 17th-19th on 16 different campus sites. The 16 winning teams will then advance to the Super Regionals from May 23rd-26th on 8 campus sites. At each site, 2 teams play in a best-of-three tournament format and then the winners from each site will advance to the World Series.