OUR impact
On policy and culture
collective power for lasting impact.
Equality League tackles the toughest, most entrenched barriers to safety, access, and equality for women and girls in sport. We know lasting change takes collective power. That's why we both lead bold advocacy campaigns and join forces with partners and coalitions to amplify voices, strengthen influence, and reach the decision-makers with the power to act. Through strategic collaboration and collective action, we challenge systemic injustice, drive accountability, and turn shared priorities into meaningful, lasting change.
2025: Pay the players solidarity campaign with wnba players
With just weeks remaining before the WNBA’s current collective bargaining agreement expired on October 31, 2025, youth athletes from Equality League joined the calls for equity in women’s professional sports by standing in solidarity with WNBA players demanding fair compensation and benefits, and equitable investment—#PayThePlayers.
From the courts where young girls compete to boardrooms and offices everywhere, the message is clear: gender fairness must not be optional. The WNBA players' push for just pay is not only a fight for athletes—it is a fight for the principle that women and girls deserve equitable compensation, respect, and opportunity.
Read our solidarity letter penned by the Equality League Youth Council and signed by individuals, organizations—like UltraViolet—and companies who support women’s equity.
and met with a FIFA official at the 2023 World Cup in Australia where he confirmed that, following three years of discussion with stakeholders, FIFA had the funds and the intention to establish an independent safe sport entity.
In December 2024, FIFA announced a new Safe Football Support Unit operating under the auspices of The FIFA Foundation. Thus, it is not independent and Equality League will pressure FIFA to honor its original agreement.
2023: called on fifa to stop abuse in women’s football
operation hoops
2021-2024 partnered with fifa and IOC member Samira Asghari to evacuate afghan women athletes
who were at risk of persecution by the Taliban when they returned to power in August 2021. We helped 30 members of the Afghan women’s basketball community evacuate with a visa letter which got them through Taliban checkpoints and onto an aircraft, but Canada ultimately refused to honor the visa. After 40 days in the Qatar World Cup compound, FIFA arranged for them to live in Albania along the Adriatic Sea while awaiting a final destination.
We established the Operation Hoops humanitarian mission to safeguard the mental and physical health of the Afghan women athletes. When the group’s Canadian visa letters were not honored, we formed a coalition of several NGOs to advocate for a resettlement country. We appealed to the hosts of upcoming mega-sporting events including the 2023 FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
2023: prepared a soft landing in the usa
in the women’s basketball community of Knoxville, Tennessee. We partnered with the UT Center for Sport, Peace & Society to help 15 Afghan newcomers secure English language classes, homes, jobs, driver’s licenses, cars, community, and an immigration lawyer. Group members arrived between May and July 2023 and received their green cards in 2024.
2020: Contributed to passing the “Empowering olympians, paralympians, and amateur athletes act”
which will lead to reforming the rules of governance for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, National Governing Bodies, Youth Clubs, etc. to provide greater protections and power to athletes. The act was signed into law on October 30, 2020.
Congress then appointed a Commission to study the Olympic and safe sport systems and their recommendations were submitted in March 2024. Our Youth Council will advocate for the adoption of the reforms.
Listen to the Youth Council’s Letter to Congress.
2019: contributed to overturning The 40-year-old Iranian stadium ban
to allow its 41 million women to watch men’s football matches in person. As members of an international coalition, we managed the #NoBan4Women petition calling on President Infantino to uphold FIFA’s own human rights policy to stop the discriminatory practice. We attracted 545,531 supporters worldwide. International and social media attention coupled with outreach to FIFA resulted in our Iranian activist-colleagues, led by Maryam Shojaei, meeting the secretary general in November 2018 and Infantino writing the Iran football federation in June 2019 demanding a stop to the ban. Women were allowed into Azadi Stadium on October 10, 2019.
2018: contributed to passing the protecting young athletes from sexual abuse and safe sport authorization act
which enhances protections for millions of children from sexual abuse in sport. We supported Champion Women by attending Congressional hearings and creating a petition to attract media attention and 137,000 supporters. The act was signed into law on February 14, 2018.
Read a New York Times op-ed by Equality League Advisor Jessica Howard: “USA Gymnastics must upend the twisted culture that enabled a sexual predator. Here’s what needs to change.”
2019: Published an open letter to the Presidents of U.S. soccer and FIFA
that called for Equal Pay and Prize Money for women in football worldwide. In the space of 48 hours, more than 100 multi-sector stakeholders signed the letter—including Time’s Up—and served as the base of our coalition continuing to advocate for gender equality. Read the letter here.
partnering on SOCIAL IMPACT CAMPAIGNS FOR FILMS
tHE tALE
The Tale is a 2018 American autobiographical psychological drama written and directed by Jennifer Fox and starring Laura Dern. Based on Fox's childhood experiences, the HBO film examines sexual abuse, memory, and the stories people construct to understand their past.
tHIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
This Changes Everything is a 2018 American documentary directed by Tom Donahue that investigates systemic gender inequality in Hollywood. Featuring interviews with prominent actresses, filmmakers, and industry executives, the film examines decades of discrimination and the movement to achieve equal representation both on-screen and behind the camera.
LFG (2021) is an American sports documentary directed by Academy Award winners Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine. It follows the United States women's national soccer team as its players challenge the U.S. Soccer Federation over gender discrimination and unequal compensation, combining their 2019 World Cup triumph with their fight for equality.