The U.S. Women’s National Soccer team’s fight for equal pay has garnered mass-media attention thanks to the activism of Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and other players.
On Tuesday, February 22, a six-year-long legal battle between the USWNT and U.S. Soccer came to an end. It resulted in a $24 million settlement for the athletes and a pledge from U.S. Soccer to equalize pay between the men’s and women’s national teams for all future games, including the World Cup.
What is ‘equal pay’?
As precedented by the Equality Act of 2010, men and women in the same employment performing equal work must receive equal pay, unless any difference in pay can be justified. Equal pay also applies to performance-related benefits, sick pay, travel allowances, and more.
Since U.S. Soccer is the employer for both the men’s and women’s national teams, the Equal Pay Act applies to the USNWT’s case.
Equal pay is crucial for disrupting the power imbalance among men and women in the workforce. Gender-based wage gaps are not the only problem, though. Workers also face wage gaps due to race, sexuality, and other aspects of identity. For example, transgender and gender non-conforming people working full time in the U.S. are the lowest-paid LGBTQ+ workers.
When did the legal battle begin?
In 2016, five Women’s National Team players filed an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint against inequality in pay and treatment (the EEOC enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination). The five players included Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, Hope Solo, and Carli Lloyd. Solo and Lloyd are now retired.
In the complaint, the players cited USSF figures from 2015 showing that they were paid nearly four times less than men’s players despite generating significantly more revenue. In 2015, the USWNT won the World Cup. The women’s team was awarded $1.7 million for the win, while the men’s national team received a $5.4 million bonus after losing the World Cup in 2014.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” said goalkeeper Hope Solo. Solo said the men’s players “get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships.”
Check out this infographic from 2016:
“But doesn’t the men’s team bring in more money?”
FALSE.
In 2015, U.S. Soccer experienced a $23 million increase in revenue. It was attributed to the USWNT’s World Cup win and victory tour — not to the men’s team.
Then, from 2016 to 2018, USWNT games generated approximately $50.8 million in revenue. In comparison, the men’s games generated $49.9 million.
2016-2022: The fight continued
In 2017, a new contract was made that included an increase in pay for female players. However, the agreement side-stepped the broader issue that the women were fighting for.
The injustices that USWNT players face go far beyond money. So, in March 2019, the players sued U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination. The athletes said that gender discrimination affects not only their paychecks, but also where they play, how often, how they train, the medical treatment and coaching they receive, and even how they travel to matches.
Then, in 2019, the USNWT won the World Cup again. In their first match against Thailand, they won 13-0, scoring, as some have pointed out, more goals in one game than the men’s team has scored in every World Cup since 2006 combined. Chants of “Equal pay!” could be heard in France ahead of games.
The 2020 lawsuit ruling was devastating for the players. The judge, R. Gary Klausner of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, declared that the women’s core argument — that they had been paid less than players on the men’s national team — was “wrong.”
the 2022 Settlement: The fight is not over
The $24 million settlement (and pledge for future equal pay) marks a huge win for women’s sports. It sets a precedent for future generations of female athletes to be paid equally. However, a few of the original five players engaged in the legal battle had different reactions to the settlement.
Rapinoe and Morgan received the news with pride and hope.
“For us, this is just a huge win in ensuring that we not only right the wrongs of the past, but set the next generation up for something we only dreamed of,” Rapinoe said on NBC’s “TODAY” show on February 22nd.
Morgan told “TODAY” that the settlement is “a proud moment for all of us.” She continued, “U.S. Soccer has agreed to equalize the prize money moving forward, obviously we call on FIFA to truly equalize that for men’s and women’s tournaments. That’s really what we set out to do. Equalize on all fronts.”
Meanwhile, Hope Solo took to Twitter to critique the settlement:
As men’s and women’s national team expired contracts are renegotiated, the future of equal pay in soccer proves to be an ongoing issue. In the meantime, however, it is important to reflect on, celebrate, ad support the hard work and inspiring activism of the U.S. Women’s National Team.