Congresswoman Speier's Gender Equality Summit: Title IX For Pro Sports?

"There's a reason why we have Title IX, which is now over forty years old," California Congresswoman Jackie Speier said in an interview today. "There's a reason why we put the spotlight on inequality that exists in women participating in sports."

Now Speier wants to focus that spotlight on the world of professional sports, starting with a summit on gender inequality this Wednesday, August 25, at Mercy High School in her home district of San Francisco.

You may remember Speier as being one of several legislators in an official letter from Congress to chastise FIFA for unequal prize money, lack of equal developmental opportunities, and inferior playing conditions in the wake of the Women's World Cup. At the time the letter seemed ambitious, but it seems to have caught some attention at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Speier and company received a reply from FIFA last week.

On letterhead inscribed with the words "Le Président" at the top, disgraced and outgoing head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, responds with boilerplate material about the organization's supposed contributions to women's soccer.

"FIFA has doubled its funding for women's football development programmes for the 2015-2018 cycle," Blatter's letter states. "Together with the 15 percent of Financial Assistance Programme funding that FIFA requires its member associations to allocate to women's football, the total investment for this cycle amounts to nearly USD 70M."

A whopping $70 million for an organization whose 2011-2014 budget document touts "Financial Prudence, reserves at solid level of USD 1,523 million."

Blatter insists the success of the 2015 Women's World Cup is a testament to FIFA's commitment to supporting and developing women's soccer around the world. In addition, he defends the Development Program and Guidelines and the decision to play on turf. The letter closes with this gem:

"We appreciate your interest in FIFA's work to grow women's football at all levels. We will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of the millions of football fans around the world to help build a better future through the power of the game. Sincerely, Joseph S. Blatter."

The dismissive letter arrived nearly at the same time that Françoise Carrard, the head of the 15-person 2016 FIFA Reform Committee, defended Blatter in an interview with Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche. In the same interview, Carrard dismissively referred to American soccer as "an ethnic sport for girls in school."

Both Blatter's response and Carrard's comments show why it's important that U.S. legislators take these issue into their own hands rather than wait for institutions like FIFA to make any significant changes. Wednesday's summit in San Francisco is a start.

Scheduled to appear are "Peanut" Louie-Harper; a former top-20 tennis player who reached third round of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open; LaNay Larson, head women's basketball coach at the Academy of Art University; and Kim Turner, staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society.

Speier notes that women's participation in sports is up at the collegiate and high school levels. "But after college, it's like a road block goes up," Speier said. "We've got to extend the benefits that have been given to young women in sports through Title IX to the whole panoply of sports activities for women in the professional realm."

Pay inequality does just happen in women's soccer, either. While NWSL minimum salaries are below the poverty line, the National Women's Hockey League, debuting this fall, is making headlines for its $15,000 a year minimum salary. Even more established leagues like the WNBA, established in 1996, are vastly behind their male counterparts in terms of both wages themselves and player compensation as a share of revenue.

Speier and her staff have been researching the National Women's Soccer League and its relationship with U.S. Soccer, amongst other things. Speier, who has advocated for gender equality throughout her political career, promises there will be more initiatives.

"In my experience, once you start putting a spotlight on an issue like this, things start to happen," she said. "Like anything else, if you don't stay on it, they will weather the storm and go back to business as usual. You have to stay on it."