A Coquitlam soccer player, coach and mom is rallying support for Canada’s national women’s team in its ongoing labour dispute with Canada Soccer.
Liz Bettles has launched a petition on change.org calling for equal funding and treatment of the reigning Olympic champions with their male counterparts.
Last week, the long-simmering impasse boiled over when the women’s national team threatened to go on strike as it prepares for the next World Cup, to be played in Australia and New Zealand this summer.
Players on both the women’s and men’s national teams have been without contracts since 2021 and the women say they haven’t yet been paid for their work last year.
As well, the players want as much support staff as the men’s team and the same opportunities to prepare for their World Cup as the men’s team had in advance of its appearance at last year’s men’s World Cup.
When Canada Soccer threatened legal action against the women’s team last week, players at an international tournament in Orlando, Fla., wore purple jerseys expressing their dismay at the gender imbalance — a display that was roundly supported by their American opponents at the She Believes Cup, as well as national women’s teams from England and Japan which were competing at separate events.
For Bettles, the international imbroglio hits closer to home.
She said she was watching the news with her daughters when a story about the discord came on and they asked her why the men are being paid more than the women.
“My heart broke,” she said. “How do I answer this question?”
Bettles, who started playing soccer when she was four years old while growing up in Ontario, and now competes in the Metro Women’s Soccer League and coaches her daughters in the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club, said the sport has always been her “safe space,” where she feels strong and empowered to be herself.
But seeing some of the best female players in the world struggle for respect from their own governing body has shaken some of her belief in the sport’s power structure.
“It is extremely important to address equity issues at the highest level in soccer,” Bettles said. “Every level and gender of soccer needs to address this issue. Young girls and women are watching what Canada Soccer does and what the players are saying.”
Bettles said the equity disparity between women and men isn’t just being played out on the international pitch; she said imbalances extend all the way down to the community level where funding isn’t always distributed equally and there aren’t as many opportunities for female coaches and players.
“Supporting the women’s national team to achieve equity shines a larger spotlight on the root causes at the community level,” Bettles said. “When dialogue begins, that’s when meaningful change happens.”
While Bettles’ online petition has gained only a modest 153 signatures since she started it last week, she hopes it will gather momentum as word spreads.
More importantly, though, she hopes it sends a positive message about empowerment to girls and women facing inequities every day, not just on the soccer pitch.
“Equity in sport is only one arena where women are marginalized,” Bettles said. “Soccer is not immune to social inequity.”
