FOR WORKING WOMEN, THE BEST AND WORST OF TIMES

Last weekend was bittersweet for me. The baby of the Dinkin family — my daughter — graduated from college.

As I consider the kind of world she’s walking into, I acknowledge, as a man, that there is so much I don’t understand or can’t prepare her for, try as I might. Right now — with the horrific shootings at a New York grocery store and a Texas elementary school — all I can think about is keeping her safe.

The Charles Dickens classic “A Tale of Two Cities” opens with these words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Those words ring true for working women in America today.

It seems to be the best of times for U.S. women’s soccer. On May 19, the United States Soccer Federation announced a landmark collective bargaining agreement with the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) and the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT), the unions representing our national soccer teams.

The deal will provide equal economic opportunity in terms of tournament bonuses, appearances fees and other forms of compensation, starting with the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the women’s 2023 World Cup in Australia.

For the women, it will mean a bump in earnings of as much as 49 percent.

According to Yahoo Finance, the sweeping agreement goes beyond pay parity, equalizing travel benefits, lodging accommodations, venues and field surface selection. The women and men will also share revenue from ticket sales, broadcast rights and sponsorships.

This victory follows another in February, when the USWNT’S class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) — over unequal pay and treatment — was settled. Players were awarded a lump-sum payment of $22 million; an additional $2 million was earmarked for charitable efforts on behalf of women’s and girls’ soccer.

The USWNT’S battle for equal pay began in 2016, when multiple players filed a discrimination case with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the USSF. They alleged that female players were paid less than male players despite superior performance on the field, noting that the women’s team was paid nearly $2 million in bonuses after winning the World Cup in 2015, while the men’s team — which was eliminated — earned more than $5 million.

On the “worst of times” side of the ledger, pay inequity persists on another playing field: the workplace. In a recent article, Matt Gonzales, editor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Society for Human Resource Management, drew a straight line from pay inequity to the type of toxic work culture that makes it difficult to recruit and retain talent.

The latest report from Payscale, Gonzales wrote, shows that women today are earning 82 cents for every $1 men earn; for women of color, the gap is even larger. Fewer than one in four companies reported that they are actively addressing their pay gaps, although half say they plan to conduct a pay equity analysis.

Then there’s the wrongheaded decision by a California Superior Court judge to strike down SB 826. It required every publicly held company with its executive headquarters in the state to have two or three female directors by the end of 2021, depending on company size. Judge Maureen Duffylewis said the law violated the equal protection clause of the California constitution.

Before the law was passed in 2018, 28 percent of California companies had no female directors at all; in 2021, that dropped to 1 percent, according to the California Partners Project. Now, more than half of California’s public companies have three or more women on their board, up from 11 percent in 2018.

It strikes me that gender diversity in the boardroom is a very good thing in a majority female country. The law only fast-tracked something that had been talked about for decades.

But there are glimpses of progress beyond the women’s national soccer team. Even male-dominated institutions like the U.S. military are changing. In a recent

CBS Evening News segment, anchor and managing editor Norah O’donnell interviewed four West Point cadets who will study at the University of Oxford this fall as Rhodes scholars. A total of 32 students from around the country were awarded this prestigious scholarship.

You probably guessed the punchline: The four cadets are all women, making West Point history. One of them told O’donnell, “I think women today feel more empowered in the military than they ever have. And that’s the hard work of the legacy of women who have come before us.”

As my daughter steps away from her bucolic campus and into the real world, I hope she is inspired to join the fight for women’s equality. The best of times will only be realized with a sustained effort across all generations.

Dinkin is president of the National Conflict Resolution Center, a San Diego-based group working to create solutions to challenging issues, including intolerance and incivility. To learn about NCRC’S programming, visit ncrconline.com