ACTIVISM
Want to stay up to date on the latest press releases and news about activism within the women's sports industry? Scroll below to view all women's sports activism news.-
October 31, 2024
World Athletics releases alarming findings on online abuse of athletes
As World Mental Health Month wraps up, World Athletics is highlighting a distressing trend revealed during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: a surge of online abuse directed at athletes. A newly published study, conducted in collaboration with the AI-driven Threat Matrix by Signify Group, analyzed 355,873 posts and comments in 36 languages,...
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October 23, 2024
The Alchemists
They led a cycling revolution in Afghanistan where women were forbidden to ride. When the Taliban returned to power, their only hope was a harrowing escape to an uncertain future. Bicycling
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September 11, 2024
Analysis: The Murder of Olympic Marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei is an Alarming Call for Action
Rebecca Cheptegei had just returned from church with her two daughters, ages 9 and 11, on a Sunday afternoon. She couldn’t have known that later that day, September 1, she would struggle to breathe and fight for her life as she lay in the intensive care unit at Moi Teaching...
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August 12, 2024
Life Will Never Be The Same For These Female Olympians. And That’s A Good Thing.
Winning an Olympic medal is most athletes’ ultimate dream. It marks the culmination of a lifetime of hard work, sacrifice, and determination. That Olympic glory creates overnight celebrities, turns casual fans into diehards, and these days, sparks plenty of viral memes. It also makes athletes very, very, tired. Just ask...
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July 29, 2024
Commentator fired over ‘sexist’ remarks on Australian women’s swimming team during Paris Olympics
A controversy erupted at the Paris Olympics 2024 after veteran commentator Bob Ballard made ‘sexist’ remarks about the Australian women’s swimming team. The incident happened after the Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team won a gold medal at the Games on Sunday, July 29. It was a moment to savour...
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July 28, 2024
Olympic camera operators urged to avoid ‘sexist’ filming of women athletes
Women participating in the Paris Games are “elite athletes” whom camera operators should be framing in the same way as men, Olympics broadcasting chief Yiannis Exarchos said on Sunday. Exarchos cited “unconscious bias” leading to more close-up shots of women Olympians at the Games. The official Olympics broadcaster has urged...
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July 22, 2024
Rise of women’s sports brings greater emphasis on maternity and parental needs
The support being provided at the Paris Olympics for athletes who are also parents is just part of a larger trend as the rise of women’s sports puts greater emphasis on maternity and parental needs. In France, a nursery is available for athletes’ children in the Olympic village for the first time...
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July 14, 2024
Harrison Butker on Serena Williams’ ESPYs Diss: ‘Sports Are Supposed to Be the Great Unifier’
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has responded to comments Serena Williams made about him at the 2024 ESPY Awards. During Thursday night's show, Serena took a shot at Butker while onstage with sister Venus Williams and Abbot Elementary creator Quinta Brunson. The news arrives two months after Butker faced backlash for his controversial commencement speech at Benedictine...
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June 22, 2024
How women runners debunked myths about the sport and made running their own
Myths about women in sport date back at least to the dawn of the Olympics 2,800 years ago, when women weren’t allowed to compete. These myths “remain hard to shake,” according to sports journalist Maggie Mertens. For instance, it wasn't until 1972 that women were allowed to run in the Boston...
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May 31, 2024
New York Times Article Alleges Nims Purja Sexually Assaulted Fellow Climbers; Purja Responds
Two women have gone on the record to accuse mountaineer Nirmal Purja of serious sexual misbehavior, according to reporting by The New York Times. The story mentions several cases of women who have suffered from sexual abuse in outdoor sports. But at the core of the article, it presents the allegations...
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May 31, 2024
Nike Basketball Ignores WNBA in Since-Deleted ‘Week Without Hoops’ Post
After the Mavericks beat the Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals Thursday night, the X account for Nike’s basketball division posted: “And that’s that… a week without hoops smh,” accompanied by the exasperated upside-down smiley face emoji. The post was quickly deleted, but not before it caught...
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May 9, 2024
How Women’s Sports Can Sustain The ‘Caitlin Clark Effect’
On the heels of unprecedented viewership of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament driven by Caitlin Clark fandom, the ESPNW Summit, Thursday, discussed ways to sustain the growing interest in women's sports. Sarah Spain kicked off the summit by presenting key figures on viewership and attendance, showcasing the significant momentum and growth experienced by...
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May 7, 2024
Gregg Doyel suspended, banned from Fever games for awkward Caitlin Clark exchange
The Indianapolis Star has suspended sports columnist Gregg Doyel after he went viral for an embarrassing interaction with Caitlin Clark at a press conference. Doyel is suspended for two weeks. As additional punishment, Doyel will not go to Clark’s rookie games this season but will instead cover them for opinion stories by...
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April 27, 2024
One less hurdle for women in track: USATF expands maternity benefits for athletes
USA Track & Field (USATF) announced in a press release Thursday that it has expanded maternity support for its athletes, building on the coverage currently offered by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC). The expanded policy will provide athletes with more time to recover and requalify for Tier...
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April 10, 2024
WNBA Has New Commercial Partner: Over-the-Counter Birth Control
The WNBA, which has long positioned itself as an advocate on social justice issues, announced a partnership with the first FDA-approved over-the-counter daily birth control pill. The drug, Opill, fits with the league’s stated focus on reproductive health-care advocacy during the 2024 season. The WNBA and the company are making...
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March 19, 2024
Women in Trail Running and Ultrarunning: Perspectives on the Challenges and Progression Toward Equity
According to the running publication Run Repeat, as of 2022, women’s participation in trail races has reached 46%, whereas in 1997 only 13% of trail race participants were women. And if we look at Run Repeat’s 2020 study of ultrarunning, we learn that while women’s participation is much lower overall, at 23%,...
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March 14, 2024
Patrick Lefevere sanctioned by UCI for “disparaging” comments “towards women”
Lefevere, who is never far from the headlines and has made numerous much-criticised comments over the years, will now have to make a public statement "recognising the inappropriateness of his statements and apologising therefore" or he faces a fine of 20,000 Swiss francs. The fine has been suspended for three years, on...
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March 7, 2024
13 Women Who Changed Running History
Running history is woven in a colorful tapestry of achievements conquered by both men and women, but considering women were only allowed to register for marathons as recently as 1972, female history holds barrier-breaking triumphs and moments of gender-gap-busting bravery. In 1873, Harvard Medical School professor Edward Clarke published Sex...
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February 26, 2024
Demystifying Women’s Barriers to the Outdoors: Where We Stand, How We Can Do Better
In a report on global trends for athletes in 2023, Strava found that globally, women “were 9% more likely than men to cite a lack of safe places to exercise.” But in the U.S.? That statistic jumps up to 70% — 70% of women surveyed in the report don’t feel like they have a...
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January 18, 2024
It’s happening, the Tour de France Femmes effect is working
On Wednesday, SD Worx announced a new addition to the front of their jerseys before the team officially kicked off the 2024 season: Protime. The “workforce-management” company sponsored the team last season but wasn’t a front-of-the-jersey sponsor. This year, they are stepping it up. According to the Protime CEO, the...
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January 18, 2024
After 10 years in cycling, here’s why I am leaving the bike industry
Despite recent initiatives to bolster women who work and compete in cycling, like the Uplift mentorship program and women’s versions of the biggest races on the WorldTour calendar – Paris-Roubaix Femmes and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift– cycling is still an tremendously male-dominated world. Some key women are leading...
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January 6, 2024
Lululemon founder’s remarks have some DEI experts calling for boycotts to combat ‘regressive values’
A black woman seeking yoga gear, learned that the company’s founder, Chip Wilson, had publicly bashed the notion of the brand embracing diversity. Wilson founded Lululemon in 1998 and stepped down as CEO in 2013, but still owns the majority of the company’s shares, which are valued at $4 billion. But...during...
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December 6, 2023
Olympian Brandie Wilkerson wears a red period stain in competition to break the stigma
A new #SportYourPeriod Initiative is empowering people to engage in sports fearlessly while they’re menstruating. The campaign is headed by the apparel brand Knix and Professional Beach Volleyball Olympian Brandie Wilkerson, who is sticking a red period symbol to her body during the ongoing Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour finals...
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December 5, 2023
Anti-violence against women charity, Scarpetta Rossa, ties up with Giro events in Italy
The Giro d’Italia Women event, together with the Giro d’Italia and the Giro Next Gen, will support Scarpetta Rossa, which has become charity partner of the three events in Italy. The charity is involved in fighting the issue of violence against women. Scarpetta Rossa was founded in Milan in 2014....
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September 5, 2023
FIFA Women’s World Cup-winning coach Vilda sacked as RFEF issues public apology after Rubiales scandal
The coach of Spain's FIFA Women's World Cup-winning team Jorge Vilda has been dismissed, on the same day the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) apologised to players of the national team for the "totally unacceptable behaviour" of its President Luis Rubiales. The RFEF has not given a specific reason for...
