The WSL supports Resolution No. 20-12 and commends the work of Councilmember Heidi Tsuneyoshi and the Committee for Equity in Women's Surfing on this resolution. We are advocates of all positive steps that benefit and support gender equality and remain deeply committed to developing women's surfing, aiming for long-term sustainable growth.
Since the resolution just passed, and the permits for our events are fixed and the event schedules have now been set for several months, we are not currently in a position to immediately commit to adding a women's division for our events on the North Shore. We plan to have further discussions with the Department of Parks and Recreations to understand their position and their timeline for the integration of a women's division into existing events on the North Shore for which permits have already been issued.
We look forward to continuing to work with the Honolulu City Council and our partners to explore sustainable opportunities for the expansion of women's surfing both on the North Shore and around the world. We also remain proud of the progress we've made to date, including increasing the number of women's Qualifying Series events by 200% from 2014 to 2020, and introducing equal prize money to all WSL owned and operated events since 2019.