A breaking development here for the U.S. Women’s Hockey team, which has announced that it won’t play in the 2017 IIHF Women’s World Championship unless the team and U.S.A. Hockey can come to an agreement on a pay increase and equitable treatment in comparison with the men’s team.
You can read the team’s stance below:
US WNT will not play in 2017 World Championship due to stalled negotiations over fair wages and support from USA Hockey #BeBoldForChange pic.twitter.com/qEXVyoKE6y
— Hilary Knight (@HilaryKnight) March 15, 2017
This is interesting on two levels:
- Vermont native and UVM grad Amanda Pelkey is scheduled to be a part of this team. It would be a tough blow for the local fans if Pelkey is unable to play in this tournament on the national schedule.
- We’ve seen this before with the U.S. women’s soccer team, which was fighting with US Soccer last year about similar issues. The women’s team certainly deserves the same resources as the men’s team so that the program can be successful. As for payment, I don’t know the disparity, because the men’s Olympic hockey team is made up of professionals, so I don’t even know who makes up the World Championship team roster. In soccer, the women were paid significantly less despite playing better and having more recognizable names.
