Georgia Gould pushing the UCI for equal pay

[Kalidurga]

About time, and Georgia seems to be gutsy enough to make it happen:

...the Luna rider is taking on the Union Cycliste International, asking for equal minimum prize money payouts for the top finishers in both women's and men's races.

To: Union Cycliste Internationale (U.C.I.)

We, the undersigned, find it regrettable that there is still a considerable disparity between the UCI minimum prize money for men and women. We understand that because competition in the men's field is deeper, more places receive prize money. We do not understand why the women who are receiving prize money receive less than their male counterparts. Therefore we propose that the UCI show leadership and mandate equal prize money for the top five men and women. Article 3 of the UCI Constitution states: "The UCI will carry out its activities in compliance with the principles of: a) equality between all the members and all the athletes, license-holders and officials, without racial, political, religious, or other discrimination." We ask the UCI to honor its commitment to equality.

The Undersigned

Gould penned and distributed the online petition on Thursday. By this weekend, roughly 900 people had signed.

From Velonews.com, Pay Day: A conversation with Georgia Gould. There's a link to the petition in the article. And, as an update, it was up to 1,531 signatures when I signed.

[Grog]

Yay for Gould!!

[mimitabby]

that's great! let us know what happens.

[SheFly]

I just signed this as well. Here is the direct link to sign and help make this happen:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/equalpay/petition.html

SheFly

[Starfish]

Do we have to be UCI members to sign?

Edited to add: nope! Anyone can sign. :-) And I just did.

[equus123]

I'm on the bandwagon

[smilingcat]

Thanks.

I signed too. count is now 1744??

Smilingcat

[Mr. Bloom]

Help me understand this issue better.

Is the size of the purse determined by:

• the sponsors, or
• the UCI organization?

I believe parity is right (and it appears that there's as many male supporters as female). I'm trying to understand why the disparity exists to begin with

[velogirl]

Mr. Silver, the UCI dictates the MINIMUM prize list in order for a race to qualify as a UCI event. The MINIMUM prize list for a womens' UCI event is much smaller than a mens' UCI event.

Of course, a race promoter can put together a prize list that exceeds the minimum requirement, but the issue at stake in this petition is the minimum prize list.

On a national level the NRC (national racing calendar) races also have a minimum prize list requirement which for 2008 was significantly increased, which i why the NRC calendar is much smaller than in past years (ie has so many fewer events).

Hope this helps!

Lorri

[velogirl]

Disparity exists primarily because mens' cycling generates more income/revenue than womens cycling does.

One of the possible negative impacts of something like this (if UCI approved a change) is that there are most likely many UCI womens' events which won't be able to make an inflated minimum prize list and will no longer be UCI events, meaning fewer opportunities for womens' racing.

This is the case of the NRC calendar in the US for 2008. The NRC increased the prize list minimum and many previous NRC events couldn't generate enough funding to meet those minimums, so the events are no longer NRC events.

[RoadRaven]

Great news... It makes me mad that in so many sports women are disadvantaged in terms of TV/media coverage and in prize money. These two are inextricably linked and if the media moguls decided to cover more women's sport than advertisers/investors would put forward more money and the problem would be solved.

Media says, people (read "men" who are supposed to be the primary sports watchers) aren't interested in women's sports cause they are not as strong/fast/whatever...

In my experience "people" like good sport... and good sport should get equal treatment.

Unfortunately, VeloGirl is right - increased minimum prize money rules, without support for the event organisers to meet the increased cost will either mean events are not run - or the cost of entering them will become prohibitive to some...

[froglegs]

I'm #2500! Do I get a prize?

[Mr. Bloom]

Great news... It makes me mad that in so many sports women are disadvantaged in terms of TV/media coverage and in prize money.

You're right, but in a positive note, look at how far Women's Basketball has come at the college level.

While the disparity still exists, folks who want to see competition "with heart" are doing it in women's athletics...primarily because BIG $ has ruined traditional male sports.

So, while money may be uneven, money would probably RUIN women's athletics like it has with every other sport. I guess, I'd be more a fan of bringing down the salary of professional sports and making it a sport again rather than a business... Plus, people could afford the price of a ticket again...

Darned if you do...Darned if you don't

[Tuckervill]

Basketball is a good example where the sport that is supposedly "equivalent" to men's sports truly is.

My husband and I had a long conversation about Title 9. I'm president of our youth baseball league. We have lots of girls in it at age 4-5 because girls softball doesn't start until age 6. The vast majority of girls go to softball at 6. There is only one girl that plays baseball with the boys beyond age 8 (she's my son's age and always makes the all-star team, and frequently makes clutch plays--IOW, she's good). There are none coming up behind her, except the 4-5 yo's, who won't be there when they're 6.

I know one reason they self segregate is because of cultural reasons. But they're not playing the same game anymore. Fast-pitch softball is not the same game as baseball. The ball is different and the hitting and pitching is different and that drives a different set of strategies than baseball. That makes the game different. Boys could play it as well as girls do, but they don't. Girls could play baseball as well as the boys do, but they don't.

Lots of people would say the games are the same, but they're not. Consider other sports--football doesn't exist for girls. What's the equivalent?

I recently heard someone advance the argument that Title 9 is the cause of low scholarship money for other men's sports like baseball and soccer at the college level. This was said with a straight face. Hello? Football gets all the fall season scholarships and then all the other sports have to divide the rest of the money up amongst themselves It's not the WOMEN'S fault that no other sports can compete during the football season. It's FOOTBALL'S fault.

Where is the equivalent sport to football for women?

I agree, Mr.Silver, that money has ruined college sports, and because of NCAA and state athletic association rules, that kind of ruination is heading right down into the youngest levels of sports. It's all so very complicated and I could tie so many threads into it. I know one thing is for sure...women are getting the shaft, as usual.

Karen