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The Women of the WNBA Just Scored a Historic Victory In the Fight for Equal Pay


This summer was huge for the fight for equal pay—thanks largely to the very high-profile crusade of the US Women’s Soccer Team leading up to and following their World Cup victory. But the battle for equal pay and playing conditions isn’t just happening in soccer. It’s sweeping the world of sports—and the women of the WNBA just won big.

For over a year, the players have been fighting for fair pay and play—bigger paychecks and better benefits—and today, thanks to a new eight-year collective bargaining agreement, they’re about to see it starting with the 2020 season. “The 2020 CBA features significant investments by the league and its teams aimed directly at increasing player salary and compensation, improvements to the overall player experience, resources specifically designed with the professional female athlete in mind, as well as a commitment to implement an integrated marketing plan league-wide,” the league said in a press release.

First, there’s the straight-up salary situation. There will be 53% increase in total cash compensation, which is made up of base salary, performance bonuses, prize pools for new in-season competitions, and league and team marketing deals. Under the new agreements, the top players will be able to earn over $500,000, which is triple the number of the previous deal. Other players will have the chance to earn between $200,000 and $300,000.

This is historic. As the release notes, the women of the WNBA will average a six-figure salary for the first time in league history.

But this isn’t just about the money, though that is obviously important. The CBA also guarantees a better player experience when it comes to travel, guaranteeing an individual hotel room for each player and an upgraded class of plane travel. It’s an issue that’s plagued women across sports as male athletes get the first class treatment and female athletes are on the ultra-budget plan. (Can you imagine asking Steph Curry or LeBron James to bunk up with someone on the road or cram into a coach seat on the way to a game? No, you cannot and these elite athletes should not be forced to do so either.)

The WNBA will also institute new maternity and child care policies. For example, players will receive their full salaries while on maternity leave, a new annual childcare stipend of $5,000, safe and private spaces for nursing mothers, and an up to $60,000 reimbursement for veteran players to offset the costs of adoption, surrogacy, egg freezing or fertility/infertility treatment. Players will also have access to enhanced mental health benefits, education and counseling related to domestic/intimate partner violence, and career development support that could include off-season job opportunities with league partners.

These changes still don’t amount to equality, but they’re a huge an important step—one that could be a model for female athletes across sports. In negotiations between the players and the WNBA, “we found common ground in areas that confirmed the league’s and the players’ intentions to not only make meaningful improvements in working conditions and overall professional experience, but also to improve the business with strategic planning and intentional marketing that will keep the WNBA front and center year-round,” said Nneka Ogwumike, president of the WNBA Players’ Association.

Let this be a sign for more progress for all women in the workplace in 2020.



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Aly Raisman Releases Powerful Statement Following Nassar Sentencing: 'Today Was an Important Victory but There Is Still Work to Be Done'


On Wednesday, in a Michigan courtroom, hundreds of survivors of Larry Nassar’s criminal sexual misconduct got some form of justice when Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced the former USA Gymnastics team doctor to up to 175 years in prison. This on top of the 60 years in a federal prison he’d already received for child pornography convictions.

Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman is among the almost 160 women who gave a victim impact statement in the courtroom over the past week. Last night, she posted a message of gratitude to the many people involved in the case. First she thanked her fellow survivors noting that “there are going to be good days and there are going to be tough days but continue to take strength in the impact your courageous voice has had upon each of us, but also for all the other girls, boys, women and men out there who remain in the shadows but maybe now see a pathway to the light.

Raisman, 23, thanked the prosecutors and law enforcement officials for holding Nassar accountable for his actions; the gymnastics community and her fans around the world for all of their messages of support; and of course, her family and friends. She had some special words for Judge Rosemarie Aquilina who emerged as a fierce ally for the victims.

“To Judge Aquilina, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your leadership, your professionalism, your compassion, and your commitment to allow each and EVERY ONE of us survivors the opportunity to share our impact statements in open court was extremely important and meaningful. As I shared in court, I wasn’t planning to speak, but thanks to the army of survivors and you, I am forever grateful that all of our voices are finally heard. Thank you for listening to us all.”

Finally, Raisman reminds us all that this story is not over. In thanking the media for “their efforts to shine a light on the biggest case of sexual abuse in sports history” she says that this is “bigger than Larry Nassar, or Steve Penny, or any of the [USA Gymnastics] board members who resigned this week.” She calls for an independent investigation to uncover “how this disaster happened” in order to make sure this never happens again.

“Today was an important victory but there is still work to be done.”

Read Aly’s full statement below:





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Amber Tamblyn Thinks Trump's Victory Catalyzed the Harvey Weinstein Allegations


As thousands and thousands of sexual harassment and #MeToo accounts from women come to the surface, sparked by the recent allegations against Harvey Weinstein, actress Amber Tamblyn said she believes that the outpouring of these stories is thanks to President Donald Trump. And before you go, “What?“—after all, the president has been accused numerous times of sexual harassment and assault—it actually kind of makes sense.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan published Saturday, Tamblyn discussed why Trump’s election victory might have prompted women to finally come forward with stories formerly kept silent.

She has her own story, too: in September Tamblyn spoke out against actor James Woods with her own account of how he tried to pick her up when she was just 16. Recently, the social media platform has exploded with similar accounts about men in Hollywood. “We have never in the history of this country had an opportunity in the way that we have right now to share our stories so publicly and be believed,” she told Cosmo. And women’s bravery to step up and tell their stories, she says, stems from Trump winning the election.

“I think that without him being elected, if it had been Hillary
Clinton, this would’ve never happened to Harvey Weinstein. I feel like
the election of Donald Trump was a singular pointed message at women
telling us that our lives don’t matter, and that our safety doesn’t
matter, and that our physical health doesn’t matter, our reproductive
rights don’t matter, that our gender just doesn’t matter, and that we
are somehow owned by the country. I think within that one move, it was
a giant gesture, and Donald Trump symbolizes, for most women—not all
of them—he symbolizes and epitomizes everything that is deeply wrong
with masculinity and with the objectification of women. And so within
that single vote, it sort of was like a switch was flipped on and
every woman just went, ‘I’m done.’ It’s as simple as that: ‘I’m done.'”

She adds that before all of this, a woman who accused Weinstein of raping her wouldn’t have been taken seriously. One such woman, actress Rose McGowan, who has been a driving force on Twitter against Weinstein, delivered the opening remarks Friday at this weekend’s Women’s Convention in Detroit.

“I have been silenced for 20 years,” McGowan said. “I have been slut-shamed. I have been harassed… Because what happened to me behind the scenes happens to all of us in society, and it cannot stand and it will not stand.”

Tamblyn agrees—and thinks that Hollywood’s culture is finally changing and will continue to change for the better. “We’re at the beginning of a real change. I believe that,” she told Cosmo. “A lot of the interviews that I’ve given and people I’ve talked to have said, ‘Do you think it’s really going to change? Do you think it’s really going to stick?’ And I do; I do, actually. I just think it’s going to take time and patience, and a lot of love and compassion and understanding between us—meaning women, all women.”

Related Stories:
–The Frame That Holds the Big Picture: How Mothers and Daughters Can Change the Way We Talk About Being Women
–Amber Tamblyn Just Posted a Harrowing Personal Account of Sexual Assault to Her Instagram Page



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