About Us
Equality League (EQL) advances gender equality in and through sport by changing discriminatory and abusive policies and practices. We tackle the worst global issues facing women and girls in three key areas: access, equality and safety.
Our core competency is training athletes to advocate. In 2020, we developed both the EQL Athlete Advocacy Training and a Youth Council to serve as its pilot group. Categories include:
Advocacy Campaign Creation
Athletes’ Rights as Human Rights
Storytelling
Coalition Building
Our advocacy has improved millions of lives by contributing:
to overturning the FIBA hijab ban in 2017
to passing the Protect Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act in 2018
to overturning the Iranian stadium ban in 2019
to passing the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act in 2020
to evacuating high risk Afghan women athletes in 2021
Equality League’s current initiatives include:
building a coalition to safeguard Afghan women and girl athletes who are at risk for gender-based violence by the Taliban
supporting the Congress-appointed Commission on the Olympics and Paralympics by recommending reforms to the rules of governance for the USOPC, its national governing bodies - including USA Gymnastics - and youth clubs
partnering on the social impact campaigns for the “LILLY” Ledbetter and “LFG” films calling for equal pay - and mobilizing the multi-sector signatories of our 2019 open letter to U.S. Soccer and FIFA Presidents calling for equal pay, prize money, investment and more
partnering with Champion Women to close the gender gaps in college scholarships, opportunities, benefits and treatment for American women athletes; that includes nearly $1 billion in scholarships, $162 million in recruitment dollars and 200,000 fewer teams and player positions than college men receive
developing and offering the EQL Athlete Advocacy Training online, in person or hybrid training in multiple languages