WORLD’S A STAGE
American hockey women threaten boycott in their quest for equitable treatment,
Some of Canada’s top female hockey players say they are happy with their current financial relationship with Hockey Canada and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, and do not foresee a boycott similar to the one the U.S. team is threatening.
Players on the U.S. team have told USA Hockey they will not report to training camp next week nor take part in the world championship, which begins March 31, unless meaningful progress is made on fair support and wages.
The Americans are the defending world champions.
“We want (USA Hockey) to fully support its programs for women and girls, and to stop treating us like an afterthought,” U.S. captain Meghan Dugan said Wednesday. The American players say Olympic level athletes earn $1,000 a month for six months during an Olympic year, and “virtually nothing” the rest of the time.
Many of the U.S. players compete in the National Women’s Hockey League, which cut salaries in November. It had launched last April with salaries ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 a season. The CWHL targeted the 2017-18 season to start paying its athletes.
“A huge goal of ours is to have a day when all our players are paid,” said Melody Davidson, the general manager of the national women’s team programs for Hockey Canada. “Our game is still young, we have steps to take.”
The Canadian players do not have a dispute with the support they are getting from Hockey Canada.
“We have a great relationship with Hockey Canada,” Canadian forward Haley Irwin said of the national team. “I don’t know what (the Americans) do on their side of things, but we respect their decision and hope they resolve it in timely fashion so we can have a good (world championship).”
The American wage dispute follows one by U.S. women’s soccer players, who last March filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged wage discrimination by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The women’s soccer team has yet to take a formal job action.
USA Hockey said in a statement Wednesday that it will continue talks with players from its women’s team.
“We acknowledge the players’ concerns and have proactively increased our level of direct support to the women’s national team as we prepare for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey.
Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, CEO of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, felt the growing discontent with the players on the U.S. women’s hockey and soccer teams is part of a general question about fairness and equity in women’s sport.
“I’d say this is consistent with a trend where women are getting fed up with the question of whether or not they’re moving forward on these issues.”