I just don’t get it. The numbers literally do not add up. The United States women’s national team is the most successful national soccer team of all time, including men’s and women’s teams. The next best team is the Brazilian men’s national team, who are five-time World Cup winners, which still leaves them two international titles behind the U.S. women. The women have showed time and time again that they are the best in the world, with three Women's World Cup championships and four Olympic Gold Medals, but this does not stop US Soccer from treating them as inferiors to the men’s national team who has not only never won the World Cup or Olympics, but never done better than reaching the quarter-finals. *
Although there is inequality on many levels at U.S. Soccer, the United States Women's National Team (USWNT) made headlines last week when five players filed a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer Federation. The equal pay lawsuit was filled by five USWNT players including Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan. Although these players are the ones to sign the lawsuit, they are doing in on behalf of the whole team, and women’s soccer players all over the world. Here are the numbers, and the clear reason why it’s time for some equality at US Soccer.
If both the men’s and women’s national teams played 20 games in a year, and went 0-20 (would never happen ), the men would make $100,000 while the women only made $72,000 ($28,000 difference). If both teams went 10-10, the men would make $181,660 while the women make $85,500 ($96,160 difference). If both teams went 20-0 (women have done, men will almost never do), the men make $263,360 while the women make just a mere $99,000 ($164,360 difference). Clearly something is wrong when the USWNT could win all of their games and still make less than the USMNT if they lost every one of their games. The men could walk out on the field and stand like cones and still make more money than if the women went out and beat every single team that they played. Literally cones could make more money than the USWNT. Sounds fair, right?
To add to this, women also get less per diem from US Soccer as well as less prize money from FIFA. The men’s team gets $75 while the women get $60… So you couldn’t spare the World Champions an extra $15 dollars? Oh do you feel bad for the men, you pay them an extra $15 because they can’t win? How tragic. Although you can argue that it’s just $15, this small discrepancy shows how U.S. Soccer treats its male and female athletes differently.
What about FIFA? They surely care about the women’s game. Haha, you thought. The USWNT won $2 million for winning the world cup this summer, on artificial turf which is a whole other article. The German men, (who are my favorite team) won $35 million for their 2014 World Cup win. Seems fair right? They get to play on grass and they get paid an extra $32 million dollars, what a life.
Growing up some of my biggest role models were women’s soccer players. My mom is a college soccer coach so being around strong female athletes my whole life has only made me realize that they work just as hard as the men, and should be paid just as much. In this case, not only did the U.S. women work as hard, they made even more money than the men’s team.
What message does this give to the next generation of soccer players? Why should a little girl devote herself to playing soccer if she will not be treated equally? Why should she expect to have to play on artificial turf while the boys get to play on perfect grass? Why should the women’s team have to focus on fighting their own federation while they are expected to continue being the best team in the world? Historically the women have not made as much as the men's team, but in the past few years they have shown that they can bring the federation the same amount if not more revenue than the men. The U.S. Soccer Federation even projected that the women will make more than the men for the next two years. It is clear that the women can and will be successful, so why won't U.S. soccer invest the funds back into the team so that they can continue to flourish?
The US Soccer Federation does a lot of work to help grow soccer as a sport in America, but more work needs to be done. The Women’s National Team's players are such important role models for girls and boys here in the US, as well as all over the world. We as a nation need to work harder to support them, and promote equality between men and women. There is no reason why women and men should not be treated equally in the workplace, whether that workplace is a soccer field or not. Women’s sports are too important for us not to do everything we can to support them and what they represent.
*The Men's National Team finished third in the 1930 World Cup, but come on, it was 1930.
