Women In Sports

"People have to remain positive and believe in those dreams."

"I would say I'm good at organizing things, like trips or vacations. I'm always the one to book the flights, and do things like that. I like to do my research. I wouldn't say I'm a super type A personality, but I like to be organized when it comes to travel and vacation."

"I understand there’s much more money in the men’s game. But Fifa spent so much time on the men they now need to focus a little more on us. I would like to close that gap even if I’m not expecting it to be equal. I’m not expecting there to be a huge jump and the win bonus to be $35m when, for the women, it’s $2m. I don’t think the entire world respects women in sport. But if Fifa start respecting the women’s game more, others will follow."

"To force a change sometimes you need to stand up. You know what you’re worth – rather than what your employer is paying you. We’re not scared. To move the women’s game ahead we need to do what’s necessary. I feel other national teams are looking at us for that guidance."

"We’re trying to do the same thing and we’ve come a long way. But it gets exhausting having to do this every day, every week. Our male counterparts have not had to fight as much – so sometimes you feel a little exhausted always having to prove yourself and show your worth."

"I feel like for me, I'm tapping into a whole new level that I didn't have before getting pregnant. I was really scared going into pregnancy thinking that I might not get back to playing for my country ever again, or playing as well as I was before. And I think that's something that some female athletes do have a fear of, and so for me, I want to be as open as possible in my journey, in showing women that we are capable of incredible things and that we can be professional athletes and moms. Our bodies are capable of going through incredible things."

"I definitely think that I would be a different person without sports; they taught me so much. Just about myself, patience, teamwork, listening... it's taught me so much that I feel like I've applied to being a mom."

"But also... being a professional athlete is totally different now than two years ago, before being a mom athlete. Priorities change and you have to get up and go to training and do your job, and make the most of it, and know that when you come home there's no time to let your body stretch and just lay on the couch."

"I loved sports from a really young age. I told my parents that I wanted to become a professional soccer player when I was like 7 years old. But I think when I realized that I had the potential to be a professional soccer player, or compete for my country in a world tournament, was probably when was... I would say like 17 years old. I had a scholarship to go to college. I was on a national team, and I knew that was what I was going to do. I wanted it more than anyone else. And I was willing to work harder than anyone else to achieve that."

"Before I got pregnant, my mindset was like, it’s possible that I’ll never reach my potential again."

"When you have 12 teams in an Olympics in comparison to a World Cup where you have double that amount of teams, I think every single team is going to be difficult."

"You have to figure it out you have to be mom and a professional athlete. There’s a lot of athletes going to Tokyo that are also fellow mom athletes and I’m excited to catch up with them and kind of just represent all the moms, soccer moms united."

"I want to show that I deserve to be at the top. I want to be the best player that I can be, that I can be a valuable member of the team after being a mother."

"The fight that we are doing right now for equal pay does not mean that we will achieve it in the short term. We are not going to get the equal pay right away, but it may be done by the time my daughter plays soccer and she will not suffer what we suffered."

"I kind of knew coming back after giving birth was gonna be a process and that I was going to have to be patient with myself and my body. [But] I definitely put pressure on myself."

"My confidence makes me strong. Dedicat­ing a lot of my life to my profession and feeling fulfilled makes me strong. Having a family and a husband who chal­lenge me makes me strong."

"El presidente Hugo Chávez fue un pilar fundamental para el deporte en mi país. Impulsó muchos métodos para que el deporte llegara a los más bajos niveles y para que los niños vieran que el deporte era importante para la salud, para los valores humanos."

"Since I started on social networks, it has always been a dream to gain my first million followers, and now I have two?"

"I am very happy to hear from all the girls who have already sent me messages on Instagram telling me that they started skateboarding or that their parents let them start because of a video of mine. It was the same with me: I showed a video of Leticia (Bufoni) skateboarding, then my father saw it and said: 'All right'. My story and that of many other skaters who broke this prejudice, this barrier that skateboarding was only for boys, for men. Being here and holding an Olympic medal is very important to me."

"I try to have as much fun as possible, because I am sure that if I have fun, if I let it happen naturally, it flows."

"I still can't believe it, but it looks like it was a big deal."

"I am very happy, because I was able to represent all the girls, Pamela and Leticia, who did not qualify, all the girls from skateboarding and from Brazil. To be able to realize my dream of being here and winning a medal is very gratifying. My dream and my parents' dream."

"For me, under-ice diving is like an energy boost, as if I was reborn. It is a sensation I can't compare to anything else, a very pleasant one. And I always long for it."

"I think the beauty of Catholicism is its consistency through both successes and difficulties. I’ve counted on my faith to give me strength through both training and competition — but also in school, with my family and everyday life. So while my goals in the pool have changed, my faith remains something that’s consistent and something I can always rely on."

"It has been fascinating to see other cultures, and to see how sports can serve to link these cultures together, even if just momentarily. An interesting common thread I see is the importance of sports in these cultures, the passion that exists for sports and athletic accomplishment. It is wonderful that sports can have this kind of impact on people, and one can only hope that sports and competition will therefore have a positive impact on how various nations view each other."

"When I think of peace from God I think of it more in the sense of a long-term unshakeable peace, a comfort in the bigger picture of a life of faith. So, when the daily things happen and cause momentary and temporary stress we can still hold to the comfort of the cross and have peace."

"This is my charge to everyone: We have to be better, we have to love more and hate less. It is our responsibility to make this world a better place."

"The right to bodily integrity and decisional autonomy is of heightened concern for women athletes who become pregnant from sexual violence. If forced to carry their rapist’s child to term, these women would not only be forced to make the same physical, emotional, and athletic sacrifices that would be required of all athletes who would have to endure compelled pregnancies, but they also would be re-traumatized by the repeated deprivation of control over their bodies—not only by their assailant, but also by the government. This intrusion can be acutely devastating for an athlete, given that control over her body is inextricably linked to her identity, career, and educational pursuits. The prospect of forced childbearing is particularly poignant for collegiate athletes, given that nearly one in five women are sexually assaulted during their time in college."

"If forced to carry pregnancies to term, many women would have no choice but to sacrifice playing their sport—a sacrifice not required of their male counterparts, despite their equal role in engendering a pregnancy. Absent the right to access safe and legal abortion care, women’s ability to participate and excel in athletics would inevitably decline and the movement toward gender equality in sports would reverse course."

"The complexity behind the “right time” to have a child also arises for high school and collegiate athletes, since they have only four to eight years to take advantage of the immense benefits of organized sports. For a student-athlete, being pregnant, taking the necessary recovery period, and having likely-changed physical capacities— as well as the realities parenthood would impose on a student—could easily derail not only her potential athletic career, but also her future educational and professional opportunities. See, e.g., Casey, 505 U.S. at 928 (Blackmun, J. concurring) (“Because motherhood has a dramatic impact on a woman’s educational prospects, employment opportunities, and self-determination, restrictive abortion laws deprive her of basic control over her life.”)."

"Jodie Grinham, a para-Olympic silver medalist, explained the complexities of timing a pregnancy while aspiring to participate in the Olympic games, which occur only a handful of times during an athlete’s career: I don’t get maternity cover for my career; no- one is going to be able to go and compete and shoot for me. In order to have a baby, I’d need to have it the year after a Games year, or going into the European year, so I can recover—because I need to be back the year before a Games year to win a quota place to then get ready for the Games. The concern I’ve got is if I don’t follow that structure and have a baby at the wrong point, then I’m showing that my career isn’t the priority. Why would I be selected? If I was going out partying every weekend, I wouldn’t be seen to be a committed athlete. For me, if I decide to have a baby a year before a Games, then I’m not committed to going to the Games. We have four months and if we can’t do it in four months then we wait four years!"

"The rigor of elite athletic competition, requiring constant training, with athletes pushing their bodies to new limits daily, is an all-consuming physical, mental, and emotional task. For women’s athletics to continue to thrive, women must maintain the freedom to determine when and how to dedicate their physical abilities and mental energy—to sports, pregnancy, or both. Without “the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child,” Casey, 505 U.S. at 851 (citation omitted) (emphasis in original), women’s ability to fully and equally participate in athletics would inevitably deteriorate."

"In short, elite athletes—men and women—must dedicate tremendous time and physical and emotional energy to their sport. Pregnancy and parenthood require comparable dedication, if not much more. Not all athletes decide to do both at the same time—particularly because for many athletes, a pregnancy would upend their athletic careers."

"Even though some women might be physically able to return to their sport post-partum, the competing demands of parenthood can continue to impede their ability to pursue athletics. When reflecting on her choice to return to racing shortly after giving birth, Olympian Kara Groucher said: “It took such a toll on me mentally and physically, for myself and my child . . . Returning to competition so quickly was a bad choice for me. And looking back and knowing that I wasn’t the kind of mother I want to be— it’s gut wrenching.” Kara Groucher made the difficult decision to try to meet the demands of parenthood and sport simultaneously, but not all women athletes want— or are able—to make that same decision."

"The decision to become pregnant, thereby risking long-term health and career consequences, involves “the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy.” Casey, 505 U.S. at 851. The decision belongs to the individual to make. Forcing athletes to bear the unknowable risk of when and whether their bodies will recover from pregnancy and childbirth would violate their most fundamental liberties."

"The physical realities of pregnancy inevitably affect women’s ability to participate and excel in athletics for a minimum of nine months during pregnancy, as well as the additional time required to recover from giving birth and to breastfeed, for those who choose to do so. The decision whether to take on the challenges of pregnancy and athletics simultaneously must be left to the individual athlete to determine, rather than to the State."

"The demands of athletics and pregnancy are physically and emotionally intense. If women were to lose the agency to make individual, personal choices as to if, when, and how to balance these competing demands, many will be forced to sacrifice their athletic aspirations and pursuits. Compelled pregnancies would allow the State to “conscript[] women’s bodies into its service, forc[e] women to continue their pregnancies, suffer the pains of childbirth, and in most instances, provide years of maternal care.” Casey, 505 U.S. at 928 (Blackmun, J., concurring). Often this will be at the expense of women’s athletic careers, as well as their educational goals and professional livelihoods. Such “governmental intrusion” is “unique to the [woman’s] condition,” id. at 851–52, as only women’s bodies are essential for both athletic participation and pregnancy and childbirth. Depriving women of the opportunity to make autonomous choices about how to use their bodies—a matter “of the highest privacy and the most personal nature,” id. at 915 (Stevens, J., concurring)—would gravely harm equality in athletics, and elsewhere."

"This undervaluing is nowhere more evident than in the media coverage of women’s sports. According to one study of sports television coverage in Southern California, women and girls account for over 40% of athletes, yet they receive less than 4% of the coverage on news shows. The study’s authors—Cheryl Cooky, Michael A. Messner, Michela Musto—found a “stark contrast between the exciting, amplified delivery of stories about men’s sports and the often dull, matter-of-fact delivery of women’s sports stories.”"

"Women’s ability to participate and excel in athletics— and to enjoy the enormous resulting benefits—has dramatically increased in the last fifty years. In 1971, before Roe was decided and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) was enacted, see 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1688, Pub. L. 92-318, Title IX (June 23, 1972), less than 500,000 girls participated in high school athletics, and well under 50,000 women participated in intercollegiate athletics. By 2018, however, nearly 3.5 million women participated in high school athletics, and over 200,000 participated in intercollegiate athletics. By 2018, women comprised 44% of NCAA student-athletes. Women’s increased participation in sports creates network effects at all levels of athletic competition. More women competing means more women pushing each other forward and raising the bar for athletic achievement. That, in turn, creates a wider pool of elite women athletes to represent our colleges and our country in sporting events. In the 1972 Olympics in Munich—before Roe was decided and Title IX took effect—“American women won 23 medals compared with 71 for the U.S. men. The women didn’t win a single medal in gymnastics and had no golds in track and field.” By the London Olympics in 2012, women athletes “outpaced their male counterparts” for the first time, winning 58 medals compared with 45 for men. The 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games were the third consecutive Summer Olympics in which U.S. women won more medals than U.S. men, and in which women outnumbered men on the U.S. team. Simply put, American women excel at the highest levels of athletic competition because of constitutional and legislative protections ensuring women’s rights to equal opportunity and access to organized sports."

"See Ponts, supra note 18. TheWomen’s Sports Foundation reported a ten-fold increase—from 4% to 40%—in the number of girls playing sports. See Women’s Sports Foundation, Title IX and the Rise of Female Athletes in America (Sept. 2 2016), https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/education/title-ix-and-the-rise-of-female-athletes-in-america/ (“Before Title IX, one in 27 girls [4%] played sports. Today that number is two in five [40%].”)"

"Women executives credit sports participation with preparing them for professional success, including being more disciplined than others (86%); having leadership skills (69%); having the ability to deal with failure (69%); and having a competitive edge (59%). As Olympic swimming champion Donna de Varona emphasized: “Competition— celebrating wins, surviving losses, requiring teamwork, rewarding persistence, resilience and discipline, these are the experiences we need in leaders and these are the experiences they gain in sport.” Finally, “encouraging women in sports isn’t just good for women and good for business, it’s good for countries.” Not only is support for women’s sports associated with stronger women—it is also associated with stronger economies. Research from the Peterson Institute found “that investment in girls and sport has significant development payoffs and contributes to economic growth overall” and “if we were to empower women in our economies, according to McKinsey research, we could add an astounding $12trn to the global economy by 2025.”"

"Participation in sports generates myriad benefits for girls, women, and society at large. Athletic participation is associated with positive educational outcomes, including better attendance, higher grades, fewer disciplinary issues, a greater desire to go to college, and higher advanced placement enrollment rates. Girls who participate in sports are more confident, have higher self-esteem, and better body images. These trends are “especially striking among girls from minority groups, who appear to experience greater social and economic mobility, more confidence, and even more personal safety if they have participated in sports.” Indeed, girls who participate in sports may realize even greater academic gains than do boys. An “overwhelming majority of women executives (82%) had participated in sport at one time in their lives beyond the elementary school level.”"

"All athletes—men and women—have a narrow window of time to achieve their greatest athletic potential. This reality is magnified for women athletes for whom childbearing age coincides with their competitive peak in athletics. If the State compelled women athletes to carry pregnancies to term and give birth, it could derail women’s athletic careers, academic futures, and economic livelihoods at a large scale. Such a fundamental restriction on bodily integrity and human autonomy would never be imposed on a male athlete, though he would be equally responsible for a pregnancy."

"Athletics “have become part of the fabric of America. ”Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Alston, 141 S. Ct. 2141, 2168 (2021) (Kavanagh, J., concurring). Women’s ability to “participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation”—including through high school, collegiate, and professional sports—“has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives.” Casey, 505 U.S. at 856 (plurality opinion). Absent the right to access safe and legal abortion care, and the ability of “the woman to retain the ultimate control over her destiny and her body,” id. at 869, women’s sports would not be the enormous success they are today. Among other reasons, women’s ability to participate and excel in athletics would decline, severely impairing the vitality of sports in the United States. Further, women and girls would be deprived of the multitude of collateral benefits that result from athletic participation, including greater educational success, career advancement, enhanced self-esteem, and improved health. Athletic prowess depends on bodily integrity. The physical body is a critical tool for athletes, and its condition determines elite athletes’ futures and livelihoods. High school and collegiate athletes use their bodies not only to compete, but also to secure higher education through recruiting opportunities and athletic scholarships that may be otherwise unobtainable. Professional athletes use their bodies for their livelihoods, including to access lucrative sponsorships and advertising opportunities. Amici depend on the right to control their bodies and reproductive lives in order to reach their athletic potential. Indeed, Amici are united in their belief that the physical tolls of forced pregnancy and childbirth would undermine athletes’ ability to actualize their full human potential."

"Amici believe that, like themselves, the next generation of women athletes must be guaranteed bodily integrity and decisional autonomy in order to fully and equally participate in sports. These constitutional protections supported the extraordinary accomplishment of American women in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where they won nearly 60% of Team USA’s world-leading 113 medals. Were these rights to be abrogated, Amici understand firsthand that women’s participation in athletics would suffer, including because some women athletes would not be able to compete at the same level—or at all—without access to abortion care and without the knowledge that the decision whether to continue or end a pregnancy remains theirs."

"Until now, women have behaved better than their male counterparts — and let's face it, in certain sports the bar has been set so low by their male counterparts it's hard to imagine how women could be any worse."

"Football is a simple game. 22 women chase a ball for ninety minutes and at the end, the United States win."

"[T]he participation of women and girls in sport directly challenges gender stereotypes and discrimination, and therefore can be a platform for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. This can, and ultimately will, reshape attitudes toward women’s capabilities as leaders and decision makers, especially in traditional male domains . . . I would not be the person I am today without the skills, training, and self-confidence I gained from my participation in sports."

"Even though the emotion and the drama of the situation, I wasn't thinking about that. I was just thinking about ball, head, goal... In the future, when I retire, I'll look back and I'll thank my lucky stars that I had such great players giving me those opportunities to score goals with my head."

"Yeah they did, Bob. It was a classic final, and I think the old cliché? Football was the winner there; just a terrific match. Shattering defeat for the USA; so hard to take. But only the hardest heart, Julie? Would deny Japan that. I suppose you could have an inquest in the USA played so well for much of the game. Just seemed to get a little bit panicky when the finishing line was in reach. But, really that's? That's being a little bit picky, isn't it? Because they did ever so well here. I just think the ball had Japan's name on it. They were destined to win it. Uh, just a feeling? Bob, I think Japan won rather more than just a soccer match here."