OCEANS MATTER PODCAST 4 - Lucy Small
Lucy Small is a professional longboarder, writer and leading gender equality speaker & activist. She's grown up in the heavy slab-riddled waters of Western Australia however has managed to come out the other side as a light-footed longboarding queen.
Photo via Georgia Matts
Her life has taken many fascinating twists and turns from interviewing the mythical Wayne lynch as a Surfing world intern, to studying a Masters's dissertation on women in conflict zones and somewhat accidentally becoming the lead figure in gender equality in sports across Australia.
One of the most well known cases of unequal pay is Australia's ladies soccer team the Matalidas receiving $4 million in prize money which was half of what the male soccer team earned simply by qualifying. Lucys own run in with gender inequality was at the Curl Curl Mal Jam where she took out the open women's division. Prior to receiving the trophy Lucy was speaking with a fellow competitor when she realised the difference in prize money, $4000 for the men while in contrast women prize money was $1500. Upon receiving the trophy, the beach announcer asked to hear from the winner and you can hear how she elegantly puts it below.
Since then Lucy has been on a crusade to level out the playing field with her equal pay for equal play petition. You can check out there progressive work in the website link below but here is a little insight taken from their website about the types of policy they are trying to implement.
Equal Pay for Equal Play is a campaign to make sporting spaces in NSW more gender inclusive. This begins with funding.
We’re calling for gender equity to be made a condition for sporting organisations to receive State Government grants, funding, and tenders.
To be eligible for government grants, funding and tenders, sporting organisations must have:
- equal prize money for both boys and girls, and men and women, at all levels of competition,
- equal opportunity (entry positions, space, time, training, resources) for girls and boys, and men and women to participate in events including competitions and training. This extends to administrative and management roles including coaching pathways, referees, event officials and judges, media representatives and board members.
- an actionable strategy to increase the participation, engagement and ongoing support of women and girls at all levels of competition.
We are stoked to dive deep into the events that led Lucy up to this life changing moment! Check out the Oceans Matter Podcast Below.
P.S This podcast was recorded back in November 2021, so Lucy's petition has all wrapped up now and some of the talks is outdated COVID chat.