Name: Harvey Van Blerkom

Social Justice Group: Sports and Equality

Date of Fieldwork: December 6, 2017

Name of Organization: Olympics and 80’s Aerobics

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Kathy Smith, 80’s Dance instructor and Kate Grace, Olympic runner and Nike ambassador

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We called Kate and Kathy on the phone. We asked them a variety of questions that focused mainly on the treatment in the field of work that they do, specifically in sports.

What I learned:

We learned about the difference on the number of endorsement deals Nike gives to each gender. Endorsement deals are the contracts that Nike gives that give the people who are endorsed free things and are paid by the company to wear their equipment.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

From this fieldwork, I learned that many women are less likely to receive benefits that men are likely to receive, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of that comes from endorsements. For example, in 2015, Alex Morgan, the best-paid female soccer player earned $2.8 million, but the best paid male soccer players, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi earned $27 million. This is something that I had assumed, but I never realized that it was 10 times different.