wingedkiare:

cicemily:

15-99-91:

Ok, re: the hockey boycott, I wanna explain some of the key points you soccer fans who may not know the full importance of this. I know it may not be a sport you follow, but it’s a step for all of women’s sports

• Like in soccer, Team USA is one of the dominant NTs in woho, a very top-teir NT. Obviously any NT standing up for what they deserve is a big deal, but havng a “big” team like this strike really sends echos through the hockey world and the sports world in general.
• Worlds is one of the major hockey tourneys, so boycotting this is a massive statement. Theyre not boycotting some small, less importnat tournament.
• The US is hosting Worlds this year. We’re boycotting a tourney that our own country is hosting. Which makes this boycott harder to ignore and really helps things hit home (and also dude it’s just hella gutsy)
• The team isn’t even striking for equal pay, they just want living wages. Like enough-money-to-eat type wages.
• The players get paid $1000 a month during the Olympic period, which lasts 6 months
• Outside of the Olympic months they get paid basically nothing and many players have second jobs as a means to survive

Additionally, they players are lobbying for stronger development opportunities for youth players. The MNT already has this, per an ESPN quote they spend $3.5M on programs for younger boys and none for young girls.

The US Hockey org put out a statement that pretty much talks around every issue the WNT raised. So it’s really important that instead of asking what have they done for women’s hockey? It’s to ask – what do they regularly do for the men’s team and the growth of men’s hockey in the US that they aren’t for women?