Just about a month ago, World Champions Ana Carolina Vieira and Luanna Alzuguir started a petition pushing for equal pay and opportunities for women in jiu-jitsu. The petition named multiple “decision-makers,” including (among others) the IBJJF, the UAEJJF, and Kasai.
The petition caused a buzz and plenty of discussion in the BJJ community, and ultimately, all that chatter led to a lot of signatures. As of the time of this post’s publication, 5,516 people had signed the petition, indicating that Vieira and Alzuiguir are far from alone in their beliefs about gender equality in jiu-jitsu.
The implications of these numbers are significant for the jiu-jitsu community. While jiu-jitsu continues to be a male-dominated sport, the number of women training and competing continues to grow. Promotions like Fight 2 Win, which is known for its efforts to put female competitors in the spotlight and paying male and female athletes equally, are lauded for their inclusion of female athletes, while those that don’t are heavily criticized among jiu-jitsu practitioners. At this point, if a BJJ event or media company isn’t making efforts to give women the same treatment as men, they will fall behind, and deservedly so.
If you haven’t yet signed the petition, you can do so here.
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