ICYMI: This week, Equal Pay for Equal Play - an advocacy group spearheaded by pay equality advocate and surfer Lucy Small - launched a petition in federal parliament calling for a national framework for equal prize money for both men and women in sport here in Australia.
The campaign comes after the Minister for Sport Anika Wells and Minister for Women Katy Gallagher this week announced new reforms that will require sporting peak bodies to have at least 50% representation of women on their boards, and of board chairs.
In a statement, the federal government shared that only 62% of funded national organisations reach the required standard of gender diversity in board directors, while only 25% of national sporting organisations and national sporting organisations for people with disability are chaired by a woman.
Off the back of these announcements pushing for better representation on the boards of sporting organisations, Equal Pay for Equal Play's petition calls on the federal government to:
require national sporting peak bodies and leagues to offer equal prize money for women and men (where/if they hold competitions involving prize money) in order to receive government funding of any kind;
require community sports clubs and venues to provide equal access for men, women, boys and girls to playing, training, competition and administrative facilities across all levels of competition;
and require equitable and proportionate provision of support resources such as physios and coaches for men and women athletes at all levels of competition.
Lucy Small said: “It is so exciting to see the government announce plans to ensure more women have a seat at the decision making table in the sports industry and this proves that the government can and will set gender equal conditions on sports funding. Now, we need the government to take that next step that will make a material difference to future champions and send a powerful message to sports organisations across the country by adding equal prize money as a condition for government funding to be awarded."
If the name Lucy Small sounds familiar - here's why: the surfer and pay equality advocate made global headlines in 2021 when she called out a sponsor at a competition for presenting her with a cheque for a lower amount than the winner of the men's division. "Thank you so much to the sponsors for the money they've put into the event, but I would say it's a bittersweet victory knowing that our surfing is worth less than half of the men's prize money," she said at the time.
The impact of that speech prompted her to kick off Equal Pay for Equal Play - and is behind her push to enshrine equal prize money across Australia.
“As an athlete, there is nothing more disheartening than seeing a government stamp of approval on an event or competition that is awarding less prize money to women, or forcing women to work with less resources than their male counterparts but expecting them to deliver the same results. It is well and truly time we ensured that women and girls at all levels of competition are supported and respected across Australia," Lucy said.
“Women absolutely dominated the Olympics and the Paralympics and our biggest sporting moments in recent years have been in women’s sport. We have to throw our support behind our current and future athletes by ensuring they have equal opportunity, equal resources and are rewarded equally. The government has an important opportunity to lead on this and set the framework to guarantee our women athletes are supported and valued.
The petition requires 50 signatures in 28 days for a government response to be tabled.