If you remember the 2015 U.S. Women’s World Cup, you may recall the story that broke on the inequality in pay between women’s and men’s soccer teams in the United States. Many of the team’s top players came out to talk about their disapproval for significant gender inequality in the system.
If you are not aware of this disparity, then let me give you some statistics. According to Statista 2016, men earn upwards of $300k if they win first place at the World Cup. Women, on the other hand, are only given $70k for first place at their respective world championship. The men’s team earns more even if they were to lose all of their season’s games and women were to win all of their games.
In June 2016, five of the U.S. women’s soccer team player filed a lawsuit for pay inequality against the U.S. Soccer Federation. However, the case was quickly shut down with a multitude of excuses. They claimed that the women’s team has a larger salary base rate which compensates for the discrepancy in the gender wages which was clearly not true.
After some time, it seemed as if the topic had settled down and had been sorted out. However, just recently in 2019, more than a dozen of the female players filed another lawsuit for gender discrimination. It seems almost ridiculous that a team that has won 3 World Cups and 4 Olympic medals is still struggling with a problem that needs no further explanation.
This may seem like a situation that has nothing to do with our careers unless you’re trying to be a professional athlete. We should, instead, think of this as a step towards equality for all women. The U.S. women’s soccer team has been adamant on their rights and have been fighting for them for almost 4 years now. This shows that progress for gender equality is slow, but persistence is the key to move the world towards a more gender-neutral state.