The United States Women's National Team (USWNT) filed a lawsuit against United States Soccer Federation on Wednesday, March 30, 2016. The teams main complaint was the unequal pay between the men and women's teams.
The main discrepancies between the two salaries is that when the men play, they receive, at least, an additional $5,000 for each match that is played over the baseline twenty-game season. So, if the men play 25 games in their season, they will receive at least $25,000 more. Even if the women win all their 20 games and the men lose all their games, the women will not receive additional pay for making it to post-season play, while the men will still receive additional pay if they play more than 20 games.Overall, the women were paid one-fourth of what the men are paid, even though they recently brought in over $20 million in revenue for U.S. Soccer in 2015.
"Recently, it has become clear that the Federation has no intention of providing us equal pay for equal work," said by Megan Rapinoe in a recent news release regarding her reasoning to join in the lawsuit.
In the 2015 world cup, the women made it to the winners podium and only received $2 million to split between everyone on the roster. Whereas, the men in the 2014 world cup received $9 million to be divided among the roster when they went 1-2-1 before being knocked out of the tournament in the sixteenth round. The women only get paid if they win, but the men get paid just to show up. To me, this doesn't seem fair. I'm not sure if it's just because I am a woman soccer player but when a team who, not only won but also broke countless records in the 2015 World Cup in Canada, is still not paid the same as the men who did not even make it to the top four, things start to seem a little suspicious.
Not only is the pay unequal, but their playing conditions are also unequal. The USWNT is forced to play on artificial turf grass while the men are given plush grass to play on. In a Huffington Post article, Morgan commented on the playing conditions by saying, “We want to play in top-notch, grass-only facilities like the U.S. men’s national team, we want to have equitable and comfortable travel accommodations and we simply want equal treatment.” In many cases, turf has been known to increase injury and, also playing the game on turf just feels different. Some people may prefer to play on turf and others prefer grass, but the USWNT has made it known that they prefer grass and are denied that by the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Like Solo, many other USWNT members took to social media to share their opinions.
After many conversations with the U.S. Soccer Federation, many ending with the women's teams pleas for equal pay and equal playing conditions as the men being 'irrational' in the federation's eyes, the USWNT has decided to do something about it by filing the lawsuit. To the team, it's not about the money but about the message they are sending.
While the argument that many people have towards this is that people would rather watch men's than women's soccer, so, therefore, the men should make more money because they attract more people. However, the women's team has gone farther in competitions than the men's team has in recent years and the women have attracted far more viewers and fans because of their success. No one is arguing that the women should be paid more, they are fighting to be paid equally. This is a valid request.
As a women soccer player of over 13 years, this infuriates me. The women's team and the men's team work just as hard. Each shed tears, sweat and blood for their teammates and fans day after day. The unequal pay that women are receiving makes it look as though their hard work and dedication mean very little. In today's world, unequal pay should no longer be an issue. This isn't the 1950s anymore, people.
