Santa Cruz became only the second California city to close the gender pay gap in sports. How?

Three years ago, a local freak show became a lightning rod for controversy in Santa Cruz. Now, it will also be remembered for creating enough of a ripple to force a sea change in how male and female competitors are rewarded. 

That is, the 2021 O’Neill Freak Show; the Steamer Lane surfing competition that initially proposed a 10:1 payout gap between its male and female winners. The men would compete for a $10,000 purse, the women would battle for $1,000. The criticism, immediate and harsh, painted O’Neill’s program as yet another example of a mainland surfing culture that fawns over its men as brave, sculpted warriors, and relegates the women competitors to an afterthought. 

Although O’Neill eventually agreed to change course and split the prize money evenly, the episode opened old wounds around the disparities between men and women on the water. Watching from the sidelines, local environmental activist Rachel Kippen saw a break. Only months earlier, Kippen stepped down from an executive position with O’Neill in public fashion, with an explosive resignation letter that accused the company of fostering an immovable culture of racism and misogyny. 

“The [Freak Show] was a catalyst,” Kippen said. “There was a lot of pushback from the event. It was an opportunity to grow.” 

Last week, less than three years after the Freak Show, city of Santa Cruz lawmakers unanimously voted that, within the city, all special event competitions with prize money must offer equal payouts to male and female competitors. To many, the rule change seemed obvious; however, Santa Cruz is just the second city or county in California (behind only Half Moon Bay) to pass an equal pay rule for local competitions.

“It’s wonderful to have this, and it’s somewhat disheartening that it’s taken this long to have equal pay and equal representation in this way,” Councilmember Martine Watkins said. “It’s certainly something to celebrate, something to be proud of.” 

Although surfing dominates the athletic landscape of this coastal community, the new rule applies to all competitions, from skateboarding and running, to disc golf and mountain biking. If tested, the rule could even apply to a block party pie eating competition if it offers cash prizes and gendered divisions, according to the city’s parks director, Tony Elliot. 

“This is all meant to establish a common ethic,” Elliot said. “This is [Santa Cruz] saying, this is who we are and this is who we want to be.” 

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The city’s new rule can be traced back to that 2021 controversy, but it’s also a story of good timing.

As the Freak Show waters calmed, Kippen, still hot off her resignation, connected with Sabrina Brennan, who had been advocating for equal pay in surfing since 2016 with her organization Surf Equity. Brennan has tallied several victories with Surf Equity, thanks in large part to her understanding of government permitting requirements.

In 2016, she got the California Coastal Commission to require the Mavericks surf competition to include a women’s division. Two years later, she helped drive the World Surf League to commit to equal pay across gender divisions in 2018; that work helped inspire AB 467 later that year, which mandated competitions on state land to pay men and women equal purses. Brennan then led the 2020 push in Half Moon Bay to require equal prize money for competitions sanctioned by the city. 

Even before she caught wind of the Freak Show incident, Brennan thought the city of Santa Cruz could be a fertile ground to sow the next evolution of the equal pay law — the surfing mecca was nearly six times as populous as Half Moon Bay and hosted many more sporting competitions.

The O’Neill controversy proved as a tipping point, and brought her into contact with the similarly-motivated Kippen. Together, they brought the proposal to Elliot, the city parks director towards the end of 2021. 

“He was really receptive and easy to talk with, and told us the city would study it,” Brennan said. “After that, I kind of forgot about it and then we found out it was going to be on last week’s agenda. This was the easiest it’s ever been.” 

Elliot said Kippen and Brennan approached him just as the city was updating the parks and recreation department’s mission statement to explicitly name equity as a pillar. 

“Surf Equity raised the question primarily in the context of surfing, but we as a city looked at the events we permit and this new condition we thought was relevant to all sports,” Elliot told Lookout. The proposal crawled along through a bureaucratic process, with surveys and discussions, before eventually landing before Santa Cruz City Council on March 26. 

“I don’t think it’s the city’s responsibility to deal with the antiquated viewpoints of organizers and how sexism percolates the culture,” Kippen said. “However, it is within the city’s purview to only sanction events that are nondiscriminatory. That’s the leverage the government has.” 

Competitions such as the Freak Show, the Wharf-to-Wharf race, the Westside Half Marathon, and the Masters Cup Pro/Am disc golf tournament require special event permits through the city. Now, in order to obtain that permit, event organizers must first agree to award equal prize money to male and female competitors.

Although many of the most popular events held in Santa Cruz — the Coldwater Classic, the Wharf-to-Wharf, the Tim Brauch Bowl Contest, IronMan 70.3 — already offer equal prize money, the new rules will require some changes. 

The first discs of the Professional Disc Golf Association’s 2024 Masters Cup will fly on May 9, one of three events the professional league brings to the DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course in the northern reaches of the city. In 2023, the prize money awarded to the top men and the top women varied greatly. Gregg Barsby, Alden Harris and Cole Redalen, the top three finishers in the event last year, received $3,615, $2,395 and $1,735, respectively. Golfer Ohn Scoggins only earned $1,235 for her first place finish in the women’s group; second place Catrina Allen and third place Sai Ananda earned $780 and $570, respectively. 

Reached by email, Rob Hapner, president of the DeLaveaga Disc Golf Club, did not offer an explanation for the pay gap but said the organization would “look through the bill with our attorney for any changes required.” Hapner did not return further requests for comment. 

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When Mayor Fred Keeley saw the item on last week’s city council agenda, he thought the city was simply updating its rules to comply with state law. He later realized that the decision put the city at the bleeding edge among local governments prioritizing sports equity. He admitted he was surprised to learn that Santa Cruz was only the second jurisdiction to approve such a rule. 

“We’re not often afraid to plow some new ground here in Santa Cruz,” Keeley said. 

District 3 City Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson said the issue of a pay gap in local competitions came to her desk during her first term on City Council in 2021. 

“Once again the city of Santa Cruz is at the forefront among other cities across the state to really not just talk about equity but to implement it,” Kalantari-Johnson said before registrering her vote in favor. “This is equity inaction.” 

Santa Cruz’s decision will likely provide a template for other, larger communities to adopt an equal pay policy. 

“It’s so huge that Santa Cruz did this,” Kippen said. “Santa Cruz is a place known for surfing. For the city to be so public about its position is just a huge piece of the puzzle.” 

Brennan and Kippen said they’d like to see Santa Cruz County, which hosts its own roster of mountain biking, disc golf and running events, be the next jurisdiction to require pay equity in local sports competitions. Kippen said she plans to start conversations with the county “this year, for sure.” 

District 3 Supervisor Justin Cummings said he was unaware of the city’s move to implement pay equity, and had not had anything come to his office about a countywide effort. However, the chair of the board of supervisors said he was open to the discussion. 

“I’m absolutely open to exploring it,” Cummings said. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have that in the county.”