Brandi Chastain is not only one of the most influential women's soccer players of all time, she also has paved the way for other women soccer players. She notoriously tore her shirt off when winning the FIFA World Cup final as the fifth penalty kick taker. Not only has she had almost 200 international appearances, she also has been a major activist for women soccer players and their rights and equal pay. Growing up I was lucky to have been able to hear her story and have her brother as one of my most influential coaches.
Her story and work has been an excellent example of conceptual change, in the creative process. The paradigm that has plagued soccer for a long time is the idea that men are better at it and that they deserve more money. It always has felt like a male dominated sport, even with the many teams and clubs present throughout the world. In the idea of conceptual change, the male dominated world of soccer is the domain.
However, Chastain was not content with the way women were treated off the field. She has been a continued activist for equality amongst pay for women soccer players. She participated in protests to stir up change in the way women were paid. She was able to participate in USWNT protests in the 1990’s as well as before the games 2023. Not only has she been protesting, she also has been influential in a deal that was signed for the US Soccer Federation in 2022. Her continued efforts on and off the field has allowed for a slow paradigm shift. Where these federations and outside people are beginning to see how the sport does not need to be dominated by men.
The idea of conceptual change present in the world of soccer and the influence of Chastain, can also be seen in Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson, in the world of Biology and the influence of Jennifer Doudna. Doudna describes towards the beginning of her life and career where she was scared and sometimes discouraged to enter the biology field, Where it was often dominated by men. She defied one of her high school science teachers and ended up going to college for chemistry. Doudna was able to pave her own way even with the stereotypes she faced daily. She eventually succeeded in many parts of her work and ended up winning a Nobel Peace Prize for her work. She had to change the male-dominated domain of biology and she was able to be a trailblazer just by the nature of her intelligence.
Both Chastain and Doudna faced a domain that was dominated by men, yet they were able to overcome that and created conceptual change. They both are examples of working to achieve that equality, all while doing what they love.
Here are the links used to gather some of the numbers surrounding Chastain:
https://abc7news.com/us-womens-soccer-equal-pay-brandi-chastain-men-women-gap-players/11866032/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/11/football/women-world-cup-cup-equal-pay-treatment-spt-intl/index.html
I love your connection between your focus book and Chastain. Both of their advocacy and push toward conceptual change are so inspiring. This also reminds me of the motivation and creativity lecture. Both Chastain and Doudna create to better society for the next generation of women. I think Chastain's continued activism and protesting is so admirable. I also think Doudna's defiance is a form of extrinsic motivation to stick it to her professor. The lecture covers the skateboard video which is mostly positive, so I think Doudna's defiance is an interesting form of extrinsic motivation. Instead of pushing for praise, she pushes against her professor and proved that she could do it. I also feel like this defiance could also be interpreted as intrinsic as a show of self-worth and how she creates for the sake of creating and not external validation.
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