Karen Janett Díaz Medina, like all successful athletes, combines love for her sport — in her case, soccer — with a fierce commitment to do the hard work necessary to excel. But she has ended up excelling in a sphere of her sport she never expected.
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Born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Díaz was on her way to work at Agroindustrial Engineering when, at a local soccer game, “the designated referee did not show up,” as she recalled in a 2020 interview. “The league administrator asked me if I wanted to referee the game, and I said yes. I liked it, and I enjoyed the experience.”
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From then on, Díaz found herself assigned to more and more games. She even paid for college with the money she earned.
Díaz sees refereeing as “a passion that challenges you every day both physically and mentally.” She considers all the women in the world “women of challenges.” Each and every day, these women have “a match to officiate.”
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But never a match like the Germany-Costa Rica World Cup contest last month when three women referees, including Karen Diaz, walked out onto the field. Women had officiated in top-tier men’s soccer before, but never together at this breath-taking level. This moment had a special significance.
When I worked in construction, other women and I used to talk about strength in numbers. In construction, those numbers have hardly changed. Resistance to our presence has been fierce.
But we can celebrate, with Karen Diaz, a real sea change. Having one person represent a minority can have a great impact. But having a group, a crowd, a posse do that representing amounts to something entirely different. Three will always be so much more than three times one. In World Cup soccer, three represents a referee team.
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Referee Karen Díaz runs alongside the action at a Cruz Azul versus León game this past October. Photo: Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro.com
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Three is women working together, the achievement of excellence many times over. Not just a one-off, not just a singular over-achiever, but a true display of the potential of our entire gender: all women, all girls. Three women from all over the planet, striding out onto the field in one of the world’s biggest athletic competitions.
An image never to be forgotten.
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Left, referee Karen Diaz Medina of México before a Group B match at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Photo: Getty. Above, at the Germany-Costa Rica match, a World Cup first: three women refereeing the same contest. Photo: Reuters.
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Activist Vicky Hamlin is a retired tradeswoman,
shop steward, and painter. In her painting and
in this column, she shines the light on the lives
of working people and the world they live in.
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