What Does the WSL’s Maternity Wildcard Mean For Pro Surfing?

Last week the WSL made a groundbreaking announcement - 2027 will see the creation of a maternity wildcard for the women’s tour, and it has already been awarded to Frenchwoman Johanne Defay, who gave birth to her daughter in August last year. The announcement also included that Brazilian surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb has been awarded the 2027 season wildcard after Weston-Webb became a parent in early 2026.

Both Defay and Weston-Webb had expressed their desire to return to the CT directly after they announced their pregnancies. Defay wrote on social media in February 2025 when she shared the news, “Rest assured, I intend to be back in top form for next season… Men are lucky enough to be able to pursue their professional careers while becoming dads, and I’d like to pursue mine while being a mom.”

Weston-Webb announced her pregnancy in the second half of 2025, after taking the season off for mental health reasons. “My goal is to try and return to the WSL Championship Tour full-time in 2026, even stronger and more inspired. This is just the first step of a new journey, and I hope it shows other women that we don’t have to choose between our dreams and motherhood.”

But alas, when 2026 rolled around, it appeared there was no place on the tour for these two new moms. The wildcard structure didn’t allow for this particular scenario - two season wildcards were awarded to World Champions Carissa Moore and Stephanie Gilmore, and expanded tour numbers took additional women from the Challenger Series, but nothing accommodated the dream of becoming a mother and continuing their careers as elite athletes.

So when the WSL announced the confirmed qualification structure for 2027 in early March, there was one noticeable change - only six qualification spots from the CS on the women’s side, with the seventh allocated as a maternity wildcard to accommodate what Defay and Weston-Webb faced in 2026. In any other industry in most countries, losing your job for becoming a parent is illegal.

In pro surfing, it has historically been somewhat of a taboo subject. The most famous instance was Lisa Andersen, who hid her pregnancy in 1993 and returned to competition two weeks after giving birth. After the turn of the century, having a child spelled the end of the competitive career of Melanie Redman-Carr in 2007, and 2005 World Champion Chelsea Hedges stepped away from competition in 2008 with no guarantee of return to have a baby. Often across women’s sport its assumed that women lose their competitive edge after having a baby, with commentators and media still often unabel to face the idea that women can return to elite compeitive form while they are mothers. 

In 2021, Jack Freestone posted on social media about the struggles his partner Alana Blanchard had faced when she fell pregnant and her body changed. Freestone accused Ripcurl of treating Blanchard negatively when she was pregnant - taking away photoshoot opportunities and what Freestone described as “no acceptance, no help, no understanding.” Ripcurl did not publicly address Freestone’s accusations at the time.

Now, there has been a structural change made that aligns surfing with other industries and allows for one woman per season to have a child without putting her place on the CT at risk. This is a big and important change for women’s surfing and can fulfill the aspirations both Defay and Weston-Webb expressed - women shouldn’t have to choose between motherhood and elite sport.

One question remains, however. What about the men’s side? There is a strong case to be made for there to be a parental wildcard spot on the men’s tour too. In 2025, Australian Ryan Callinan missed the Gold Coast Open for the birth of his first child and was unable to regain enough points to make the mid-year cut. Across the men’s tour, we have seen surfers have to make an impossible choice - leave their partner to give birth and care for a newborn or sacrifice their season and potentially their careers. Only offering a parental wildcard on the women’s tour cements the assumption of women as the primary carer of a child - whether as an athlete or as a partner left alone at home with a newborn.

And what of other tours? In 2025, we saw three-time longboard World Champion Honolua Blomfield return to competition just three months after giving birth to her son Reign and go on to win a WLT event in the Abu Dhabi basin in the same season. World number two on the men’s WLT Edouard Delpero travelled to Australia just days after his partner gave birth in France to salvage his season. Would a guaranteed parental wildcard for both men’s and women’s tours allow for better access to the elite level of the sport?

The recent announcement signals something healthy about the state of the WSL - they’re clearly listening to the concerns of the surfers and the broader surfing community and are willing to evolve their structure. Compared to previous years, where it seemed more effort was made to silence critics than it was to support the community and culture of surfing, this is a positive and welcome step.