What I'm not willing to accept is the enduring status quo around maternity. I asked Nike to contractually guarantee that I wouldn't be punished if I didn't perform at my best in the months surrounding childbirth. I wanted to set a new standard. If I, one of Nike's most widely marketed athletes, couldn't secure these protections, who could?
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Allyson Felix
United States sprinter, 2003–2022
United States · b. 1985
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Won eleven Olympic medals, seven of them gold, across five Games between 2004 and 2021. In May 2019 she published an opinion piece describing her contract negotiations with Nike over maternity protections; Nike changed its policy for sponsored athletes later that month.
2 answers
If we have children, we risk pay cuts from our sponsors during pregnancy and afterward. It's one example of a sports industry where the rules are still mostly made for and by men.
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