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U.S. Women’s Soccer Team comes closer to victory — in the world cup and over the gender gap

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US soccer player Megan Rapinoe made headlines on Saturday when she struck a heroic pose after scoring a goal against France in the Women's World Cup. The pose could have equally symbolized not just a victory on the field, but a recent win off it, too: The Soccer Federation finally agreed to enter mediation with the women's soccer team regarding their lawsuit fighting the team's pay gap.  

In a lawsuit filed against US Soccer on International Women's Day in March, 28 members of the US women's national soccer team (USWNT) reported earning 38 percent less than male US soccer players and claimed the pay disparities are unlawful under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII. Women players make a maximum of $4,950 per game on average compared to men's $13,116, and even the star women players make less than men. Alex Morgan, for example, makes around $1 million annually while Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi earn over $100 million annually — 100 times more than Morgan. While the USWNT and US Soccer took part in settlement negotiations on June 21, soon after the team filed their lawsuit, they didn't reach an agreement at that time. 

This disparity persists even though, according to financial reports from the US Soccer Federation, the women's team generated nearly $1 million more in revenue from ticket sales than the US men's soccer team in the three years since the USWNT won the 2015 World Cup. Since 1991, the team has also placed in the top three teams in every Women's World Cup and has won four gold and one silver medal in the six Olympic games that have included women's soccer. Notably, the men's team failed to qualify for the Men's World Cup in 2018.

Rapinoe, who has been the USWNT's most vocal activist for LGTBQ rights, racial injustice, and fair pay, told Footwear News about pay disparity, "I would like my paychecks a lot bigger and a lot more representative of the work I do on the field … We have to get in here, in the nitty-gritty, and break these systems down that are so entrenched and have deep grooves in our society." 

The USWNT has argued that they pay women under a different structure than men, but according to one US Soccer spokesperson, "that doesn't mean they are compensated less by US Soccer."

Rapinoe disagrees, telling The Washington Post: "I have to do everything I do on the field. Then I have to do everything else to prove to you that's enough. I have to somehow justify myself or convince you that what I just did was amazing. And I already just did it." 

She continues, "It's wild, but I now have so many more skills than a lot of these male athletes because they don't have to think about anything else … From age 14 or 15, these guys are not thinking about, nor do they have to think about, anything other than being an amazing soccer player." 

"It's exhausting," Rapinoe adds, although, from all appearances, this isn't preventing her from helping lead her team toward victory: Her two goals during the quarter-final game against France resulted in a 2 to 1 win, advancing the women's team to the semi-finals against England on July 2. 



More articles by Category: Sports
More articles by Tag: Equality, Equal Pay, Sexism, Women's leadership
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