July 5, 2015
The US Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) defeats Japan becoming the third-time FIFA Women’s World Cup Champions. This is something the Men’s National Soccer Team has never accomplished. The U.S Women’s soccer team is not only regarded as the best soccer team in the world, but it is considered the best team in all of women’s sports. Even though these women have proven their capabilities and have accomplished more than their male counterparts ever have, they are still being discriminated against and are given unequal pay, purely due to their gender. Five women on the team have finally decided to fight back. Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Rebecca Sauerbrunn have all filed wage-discrimination complaints against the U.S. Soccer Federation in hopes to receive equal pay with their male colleagues.
Exactly how much less is the Women’s National Soccer Team getting paid? That is a good question, and here are the facts:
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is getting paid 40% of what their male counterparts make. For every game, the women earn $1,350 if they win and nothing if they tie or lose. However, the men receive $9,375 for a win, $6,250 for a tie, and $5,000 for a loss, and that is only for playing against teams not in FIFA’s top 25. The men can actually earn up to $17,625 for winning games against teams ranked in the top 10. “We are the best in the world, have three World Cup championships, four Olympic championships, and the men’s national team get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships. (Solo, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Stars Allege Pay Discrimination).”
Even if the women didn’t consistently outperform the men, they should still be compensated equally, but the fact that the women’s team has enjoyed much more success and proven it’s superiority only highlights the discrepancies and makes this an even more egregious offense. Because of the huge pay discrepancies and the potential implications of this case, the women’s team decided to hire Jeffrey Kessler, one of the best sports lawyer in the country, to help them fight this battle. Kessler supports the team whole heartedly and even believes, “the women’s team has been more valuable to the U.S. Sports Foundation than the men’s team has been (Kessler, U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Stars Allege Pay Discrimination).”
While some people may argue that the men’s national soccer games are more popular and bring in more revenue than the women’s team, the facts prove otherwise. Just this past year, the Women’s National Soccer Team made $20 million more in revenue than the men’s team. It is also argued that commercial ads will pay more to be aired during the men’s games on TV. That may have been true last year, however, the “2015 Women’s World Cup was the most-watched soccer event Americans have ever tuned in to (Block, U.S. Women’s Soccer Doesn’t Deserve Equal Pay — They Deserve More).” From that fact alone, we can conclude that TV adds will have to start paying more to be aired during the women’s soccer games, due to the increase of viewers.
There is no feasible excuse for why the women on the national team are paid less than the men. These women have clearly demonstrated that they are not only equal to their male counterparts, but they are actually more valuable in terms the revenue they bring in and the attention they receive. And if these women still are not given the pay they deserve, what hope is there for every other woman in other occupations? That is why so much significance is placed on this heavily publicized movement led by the USWNT. With the statistics on their side, the women are confident they can win this battle. Their ultimate goal is to not only receive equal pay, but also open up the eyes to women all around the world and inspire them to fight for their rights, especially equal pay for equal work.
