April 2, 2021
WUL community,
With the warmth of spring approaching, I’d like to provide an update on behalf of the WUL Board of Directors and share some of what we’ve been working on this last quarter.
First, given the recent and ongoing discussions about the use of “womxn” in reference to a group of women and non-binary people, we have decided as a league to no longer use “womxn” in any context. While we initially used this term with the intention of inclusivity, we recognize that “womxn” has held different meanings for different people, including acting as a term of exclusivity. Generally, “womxn” has served as an umbrella term that referred to a group that included cis women, trans women, and non-binary people. However, this framing separates out trans women from cis women, and lumps in non-binary people who, by definition, are not women, which makes “womxn” problematic. With that in mind, going forward we are going to use the phrase “women and non-binary” to describe the participants of our league. Additionally, we have had, and plan to continue having, active discussions about whether that phrase accurately captures all who we hope will participate in our league, since we are trying to be as inclusive as we can be for people of all marginalized gender identities.
Second, we are thrilled to announce that we have contracted with Lunaria Solutions as our external consultant in the areas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We have been working with Lunaria since February and have constructed a survey that is about to be sent to all of our players and team leadership/organizers. We hope to gain a deeper understanding of what equitable practices to incorporate and how to implement them moving forward. Additionally, as part of our agreement with Lunaria, we plan to leverage consultation hours available to us for our team organizers. Our goal is to use this partnership to create the most inclusive league possible and ensure that we are operating in a manner consistent with our values, including our Return to Play planning.
Third, we would like to provide an update on the WUL’s Return to Play plans. In March, we sent out a survey to the players in the league soliciting their feedback. We received substantial player engagement totaling nearly 120 responses, and an internal committee has reviewed the results as a means to understand our players’ needs and how to use their input to guide our thought process. Our decisions around returning to play are centered around public health, player safety, and equity. We continue to pay close attention to local guidelines as the situation evolves in each of our team locations, but at this point we are looking to formulate a plan to potentially return to the field in late 2021, and will update the community as soon as those plans are finalized.
Lastly, be on the lookout for an announcement about new WUL content dropping soon!
Sincerely,
Felicia Yang
WUL Executive Director
