I don’t normally chime in on politics. In fact, I avoid that subject like the plague. All too often politics is a topic that just causes people to get fired up and argue.
Now that I think about it, sports are like that, too.
I have no problem voicing my opinion when it comes to sports. And there’s one topic in particular that always grinded my gears: NFL cheerleaders.
No, I don’t think it’s demoralizing to have cheerleaders. No, I don’t care about what they’re wearing. What I do care about, however, is how they are treated. And if I’m being blunt, NFL cheerleaders are treated like crap.
These ladies work their tails off to learn routines, often practicing for several hours multiple times a week. And guess what? Not many teams, if any, pay them for their time.
I have a friend who used to be a cheerleader for a professional team. As a lifelong cheerleader she was thrilled to go pro after college; thrilled until she saw her first paycheck, that is. She was paid $50—yes 5-0—per game. No money for practice. No money for public appearances. I guess the club thought just the privilege of being a cheerleader was payment enough.
Needless to say, she did it for a year and quit.
It appears that things weren’t much different in Oakland either. Oakland Raiderette cheerleaders filed a wage-theft lawsuit, which their attorney Sharon Vinick claims they were paid less than $5 per hour through a contract that didn’t include pay for rehearsals and public appearances.
Well, Gov. Jerry Brown made it so this tomfoolery ends here.
On July 15, Brown signed AB202, which requires sports teams employ cheerleaders as workers, not contractors. Under the legislation, the cheerleaders now get sick leave and overtime pay, too.
Can I get three cheers for progress?
This legislation is the first of it’s kind, but seems to be catching on. According to ESPN, similar legislation is in the pipeline in New York, too.
While this is a huge step forward for NFL cheerleaders, it still irks me that it has taken so long to get here. It’s 2015 and only now are we advocating for these women to get the fair and equal treatment they deserve?
But as history has often proved, change is often slow coming. Just take the recent marriage equality, for example.
Nonetheless, I’m seeing this as a victory in a march towards balanced treatment for women in the workplace and especially in sports. We still have a long way to go, but it’s something.
Now it’s time for others to step up and follow suit. Or as I like to say: be progressive, be be progressive!
