Rise of women's sports brings greater emphasis on maternity and parental needs

The support being provided at the Paris Olympics for athletes who are also parents is just part of a larger trend as the rise of women’s sports puts greater emphasis on maternity and parental needs.

In France, a nursery is available for athletes’ children in the Olympic village for the first time and private rooms will be provided by organizers for nursing mothers. But the Olympics aren't alone.

FIFA, soccer's global governing body, recently added new policies that expanded on ground-breaking regulations adopted in 2020 that gave athletes access to a minimum of 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. The new rules expanded benefits to coaches and gave periods of paid leave to adoptive parents and non-biological mothers.

Likewise, USA Track and Field unveiled a program in April that gives athletes greater financial support and insurance coverage in working their way back from giving birth.

For athletes in other sports, the U.S. Olympic Committee has introduced the USA New Family Fund, which distributes grants to help parents with things like childcare, infant supplies and feeding support.

U.S. national soccer team defender Casey Krueger welcomes the greater attention sports is paying to both pregnancy and the needs of athletes who are parents of young children.

For Krueger, it’s personal. When she’s competing in France beginning this week, she’ll have a place to nurse her son.

“I just actually had a conversation with the coaching staff and U.S. Soccer, because they’ve been in contact with FIFA, just trying to get some logistical things figured out,” Krueger said. “I’m still breastfeeding my son so he comes to the stadium with us. And so they’ve been very accommodating, and they’re making sure he has a room, and I’m able to (nurse) before the game. So, I felt incredibly supported.”

By and large, however, efforts to accommodate parental needs both within domestic leagues and at large international events like the Olympics are piecemeal, differing between both sports and the nations represented.

Because FIFA oversees the largest women's only global sporting event, the Women's World Cup, and sets the standards for the game internationally, it is in a unique position compared to other sports to set standards for its athletes.

The Women's World Cup last year in Australia and New Zealand gave FIFA a chance to introduce new policies for tournaments that require athletes to be away from home for weeks at a time. Among the changes were allowances for nannies in traveling contingents, and even the availability of child car seats in official transport.

FIFA's new guidelines also require teams to allow for time off for issues that might arise during menstruation. Additionally, player transfer rules were changed to give teams greater flexibility to sign players in the event of an athlete's pregnancy or leave.

“If we want to include women in football, we have to include them in every aspect of the game. ... We need to ensure that they are protected from a labor perspective, that they can earn a living playing football and that they’re not penalized if they want to start a family, whether that be biologically, whether they want to adopt, whether they are the biological mother or not," said Sarai Bareman, FIFA's chief of women's football. “And if we want more and more women around this planet to be playing the game and earning a living playing the game, these measures are absolutely necessary in order to ensure that.”

But for most athletes, the landscape for navigating maternity and childcare can be confusing and daunting — it can often hinge on their country's laws, or lack of them. Many athletes in Olympic sports aren't covered by traditional labor contracts.

Track athletes have traditionally been supported by corporate sponsorships. Former sprinter Allyson Felix, an 11-time Olympic medalist, in 2019 called out Nike for the company's treatment of her when she was pregnant. She eventually parted ways with Nike, but pushed the shoemaker to change its policies.

Hurdler Christina Clemons, a new mom who competed recently at the Olympic trials, said she felt supported by USATF and the USATF foundation, as well as corporate sponsor Doritos. But the experience hasn't always been positive.

“I was with adidas 12 years, had a baby and they didn't re-sign me. But I'm one of the best hurdlers in the world. So how does that make sense? For what reason? The only thing we can look at is that I had a child," she said.

Maternity leave and child care have long been a part of the collective-bargaining agreements that women have had with the U.S. Soccer Federation. The players' landmark agreement for equal pay with the federation in 2022 included a provision that gave fathers child care during matches and camps.

Other nations, including Australia, have similar provisions in their labor agreements.

The National Women's Soccer League and the WNBA have also recognized the needs of parents in its labor agreements. The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement in 2020 adopted fully paid maternity leave, as well as a stipend for childcare.

Often, reforms are driven by the players themselves, as was the case with Felix. Serena Williams' return from pregnancy spurred the WTA to adopt a new ranking rule that didn't penalize women for absences while having children.

England's Rugby Football Union gives athletes a full 26 months of paid maternity leave.

In many parts of the world, however, such policies have yet to be adopted. That's what makes efforts like FIFA's important.

“Maybe this message will not have a big impact in the United States because the players are well-protected. It is the same in France, for instance, or in Spain. We are not reinventing the wheel in some countries, the message is already there in a certain way," FIFA's chief legal officer Emilio Garcia said. "But we govern for 211 territories. So these measures can have a big impact in certain countries."

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AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed to this report.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer