Being a female athlete, motherhood and sponsors, tough!
Being an athlete and a mother means facing many obstacles. Many testimonies describe the struggle athletes face during motherhood to keep their sponsors.
On February 2, 2023, Clarisse Cremer announced that her sponsor Banque Populaire was leaving her one year before the start of the Vendée Globe.
When sponsors don't play the game
Twelfth in the last Vendée Globe and holder of the women's round-the-world record, Clarisse Cremer was supported by Banque Populaire when she announced her desire to become a mother. She is expected to give birth to a baby girl in November 2022.
There were two full seasons and four transatlantic races left to get back on track before the start of the transatlantic race in 2024. But according to the sponsor, the delay in her qualification represents a risk of not being present in the next Vendée Globe.
Banque Populaire then chose to replace her. A shock for the athlete.
Photo credit: JUG81
Yet another model is possible
Conversely, On Running just signed with Floriane Hot while she is pregnant.
The brand had submitted a sponsorship offer to the French runner before she became pregnant. When the company learned of this, it decided not to change the contract.
“It surprised me.”
I would have completely understood and accepted if she had changed a few lines in the contract, since my 2023 season will not be the one "We" hoped for when we discussed the partnership. But she decided not to change anything and to support me during my pregnancy," she told the media. Watson.
Rare !
Hope! 😍
Joana, founder of @momout.family, created a platform that supports women in practicing sport during their pregnancy and after the birth of their baby.
In her post of January 24, on the occasion of Women's Sports Day, she reports on a survey on "High-Level Sport and Maternity" carried out by a working group associated with the Ministry of Sports: 61.6% of the sportswomen questioned think that it is difficult to become a mother during one's sporting career. 🤔
And it's not really for sporting reasons. They have concerns about the support of the technical staff, a break with their sporting environment, and the opinions of other athletes.
"You have to have the guts to say that you can have been pregnant and come back just as strong, or even stronger." Having a child shouldn't be seen as a constraint, but as a strength. "Financial support would be a huge relief. My sponsors are committed to this issue; they're helping me. But the system would need to be anchored at the national level; that would make things easier on all levels," the athlete concludes."There are few athletes who have dared to do it, but we have to prove that it's possible on the eve of the Paris Games in 2024," Manon Genest, 2016 para triathlon world champion, explained to France Bleu in January.
Football is still a man's sport, motherhood is shocking.
On January 18, footballer Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir revealed how OL cut her salary during her pregnancy.
It all began in March 2021. Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir took a pregnancy test and learned she was pregnant. After the joy of the announcement came the worry: how would the team take the news?
“It was funny to see their reactions because some people were shocked. I think there were a lot of mixed emotions – when a player announces she's pregnant, it's a special moment, which also comes with its share of unknowns.”
And then, after two months of pregnancy, Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir does not receive her first paycheck. She then asks her colleagues who received theirs on time. At first, she thinks it's an oversight and isn't overly concerned. "Then I didn't receive the next one. So then I think, 'Wait.'"
She then contacted the management of the women's OL team, who assured her that it was a mistake. Then, after some time, when her pay still hadn't arrived, the management told her that they were relying on French law and that they no longer owed her anything.
Shocked, Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir wonders if she has just lost her place on the team (her contract still runs for six months). “Maybe they thought, ‘She’s going to Iceland for a vacation.’ But I trained like crazy during my pregnancy. Once the nausea passed, I felt fresh. I hated the fact that I couldn’t play soccer anymore, but I could run, swim. I worked out every day with a coach, whom I paid for myself… In fact, I had to pay for everything during that period out of my savings. […]
It's not a pleasant feeling, especially when you're about to start a family."
Source Madmoizelle
