Gender Based Wage Discrimination Case Study
This year the U.S. Women’s Soccer team sued U.S. Soccer team for gender based wage discrimination. Although you would think there would be a simple solution to this problem, to give the women’s team equal pay, it has become much more complex than that. The U.S. Soccer Federation has many eyes looking at them to see what they will do about the case against them. This paper will give a brief history in gender based wage discrimination in athletics in general and then in soccer, give an overview of the case and give the point of view from both the U.S. Women’s Soccer team and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and an analysis of the ethical situation based on my own morals and what I have learned from class.
There is a long history of wage discrimination …show more content…
between men and women. This does not stop at athletics either. In both collegiate and professional female athletes there are still equality gaps in money offered to them over male athletes. In collegiate sports females make up of roughly 57% of college campuses they only have a 43% participation rate, that is 63,241 less participation opportunities than male athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (NCCA, 2014). This gap of participation also reflects the gap of scholarship and budget that female college athletes get. According to NCAA in 2014 male athletes received 55% of NCAA college athletic scholarship, while female athletes only received 45% of scholarship. Further more in 2012, according to NCAA women’s team receive 40% off college’s budget for sports and only 35% of the recruitment budget. The gap does not stop at the collegiate level either, it continues into professional sports associations as well.
Overall professional male athletes make way more than their female counterparts and crosses over a multitude of different sports. There have been a few strides to equality in a few of the sports such as tennis and surfing. In 2007 Wimbledon provided equal prize money to both male and female athletes, and in 2012 the World Surf League made a policy to have equal prize money for the men’s and women’s Championship events (Women’s Sports Foundation,1). Although these sports are helping pave the way to pay equality for women there are still many that still have a vast pay gap between the men’s and women’s teams. One example of this is with basketball in the NBA vs. the WNBA. In 2012 the estimated median salary for the NBA was $2.5 million while the WNBA was caped at $878,000 for the whole team of 11 players (Woods, 1). There is also a huge wage gap in soccer; not only in the U.S. but other places such as Britain we well. BBC Sport reported in 2014 that in the World Cup that their male teams were awarded 22 million pounds (32.27 million U.S. dollars) while the women’s team was only awarded 630,000 pounds (924,021 U.S. dollars). With the wage gap being more prevalent than ever more women’s teams are starting to take a stand against equality. This is why the U.S. Soccer Women’s team has taken their position against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The U.S.
Women’s Soccer team is suing the U.S. Soccer Federation for wage discrimination between them and the men’s team. The suit is being headed by five of the well-known players; Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo. They have attorney Jeffrey Kessler who has much experience is setting disputes with in the sporting industry. He has represented players such as Tom Brady and Ray Rice in their disputes with professional leagues and organizations (ESPN,1). The suit is about more than just money. The team wants to be treated equally in all aspects of the sport. They want the same accommodations that the men’s team gets in things such as comfortable travel accommodations and to be able to play on grass fields; as started by Morgan “…we simply want equal treatment”. The players have constantly had to play on substandard, artificial turf fields. This is a problem for safety reason. The team has been advocating this through their social media, such as Hope Solo’s Instagram post of the turf field falling apart, and Sydney Dwyer’s tweet of her badly beaten up legs from the turf. Along with the social media attention in December of 2015 Megan Rapinoe tore her ACL while playing on turf (Blocks, 1). The women’s team is making their stand in order to win equal pay for the work that they do. The U.S. Women’s Soccer team have a potential to earn about $99,000 a year if they win all 20 exhibition matches, while the men’s team could earn about $100,000 a year minimum for just appearing in 20 games with the potential to win up to $263,320 a year if they will all their games (Fox Sports). The team also wants better playing
conditions. “We have been quite patient over the years with the belief that the federation would do the right thing and compensate us fairly” says Lloyd (The New York Times, Das). On March31st, 2016 Lloyd said that she thought “the timing is right I think we’ve proven our worth over the years”. In the eyes of not only Lloyd but the rest of the U.S. Women’s team it is time for a drastic change in the Federation. The women’s team is taking a stand on the pay discrepancy with in the U.S. Soccer Federation between the men’s’ and women’s team. Over the years the team has been proving themselves again and again. They have three World Cup championships accompanied with four Olympic championships. The success of women’s team has also brought great profit of about $20 million in 2015 (ESPN,1). The team is also projected to bring in more revenue by 2017. They are estimated to bring in $5.2 million while the men’s team is projected to actually lose the U.S. Soccer Federation about $1 million (PBS, Santhanam).
Solo has stated that she has been to many CBA negotiations and has seen little change come out of them (ESPN). Megan Rapinoe has recently said “it has become clear that the Federation has no intention of providing us equal pay for equal work” (ESPN). In January, the Women’s national Team union submitted a proposal for a new CBA that included equal pay for equal work, but was shut down (ESPN). Although there are five main player representatives who signed for the case the rest of the team is in support for it.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has had little to say about this situation. Shortly after the U.S. Women’s National team submitted a proposal for a new CBA, the Federation quickly sued the union supporting the team. U.S. Soccer’s statement to the reasoning was because of fears from the Federation that the players would go on strike before this year’s Olympics. The U.S. Women’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, things that this action was taken to distract from the team’s objectives of negotiating equality in the sport (USA Today). With all the negative press towards the U.S. Soccer Federation they released this statement. “Our efforts to be advocates for women’s soccer are unwavering. For 30 years, we have been a world leader in promoting the women’s games and are proud of the long-stranding commitment we have made to building women’s soccer in the United States and furthering opportunities in soccer for young women and girls around the world”
The Federation is trying to convince the audiences that they are still in support of women’s soccer and furthering equality for the sport. In many accounts they U.S. Soccer Federation has stated that they are disappointed in the action that the team has taken and that they want to come to an agreement and resolve the situation and efficient as possible. There is a lot out there about what the U.S. Women’s Soccer team is saying and a good amount of what the U.S. Soccer Federation thinks, but what about others on the outside of it. One advocate for the Women’s team is goalie Time Howard of the men’s team. Time told Sports Center that the men’s team supported the women’s team fight. He continues to say “we support the fact that the women should fight for their rights and fight for what they think is just compensation” (ESPN). Tim was not the only athlete from the means team in favor of the women’s team; Landon Donovan also tweeted in support of the women’s team (ESPN). It doesn’t just stop at other athletes; even some of the presidential candidates have chimed in. Both democratic nominees, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have shown their support for the teams. Bernie’s tweet said, “The time is long over due for pay equity in this country. I believe that they will win”(CNN, McKirdy). My overall opinion is that the U.S. Soccer Federation should give the team equal pay as the men. Some of the arguments through around are that the women’s team doesn’t bring is as much money and therefore shouldn’t be paid the same. Not only has that not been the case in the past few years and the projected future, but is an invalid response. The women work just as hard, and put in just as many hours as the men’s team and do well. They deserve to have the pay gap, at the lest, shortened some to show that the Federation is serious when they state that they are for furthering the equality between male and female athletes. To me U.S. Soccer is just trying to make excuses for not wanting to negotiate with the team. The U.S. Soccer Federation has shown poor ethics and judgment. They have claimed to be of support to help women’s in soccer become more equal to the men, but have been hypocrites when it has come to actually putting action behind those words in this situation. They have shown little will to negotiate and talk to the team to come to a solution that both parties can be happy with. The U.S. Soccer Federation needs to check what their company values and beliefs are and realign their actions on this situation with them. In conclusion The U.S Soccer Federation has been very inconsistent with their ethical company values and their action. The Women’s Soccer team has stood firm in their stand for equity in not only the pay gap, but also the conditions in which they play. They are taking a standpoint for a battle of discrimination that has affected not only their sport, but also other female professional and collegiate sports teams. The Women’s team has put the ball in the Federations field and all eyes are watching them to see how they will respond. Hopefully they will pick the ethical decision and help make a transition to a more equal playing field for women’s athletics.
There is a long history of wage discrimination …show more content…
between men and women. This does not stop at athletics either. In both collegiate and professional female athletes there are still equality gaps in money offered to them over male athletes. In collegiate sports females make up of roughly 57% of college campuses they only have a 43% participation rate, that is 63,241 less participation opportunities than male athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (NCCA, 2014). This gap of participation also reflects the gap of scholarship and budget that female college athletes get. According to NCAA in 2014 male athletes received 55% of NCAA college athletic scholarship, while female athletes only received 45% of scholarship. Further more in 2012, according to NCAA women’s team receive 40% off college’s budget for sports and only 35% of the recruitment budget. The gap does not stop at the collegiate level either, it continues into professional sports associations as well.
Overall professional male athletes make way more than their female counterparts and crosses over a multitude of different sports. There have been a few strides to equality in a few of the sports such as tennis and surfing. In 2007 Wimbledon provided equal prize money to both male and female athletes, and in 2012 the World Surf League made a policy to have equal prize money for the men’s and women’s Championship events (Women’s Sports Foundation,1). Although these sports are helping pave the way to pay equality for women there are still many that still have a vast pay gap between the men’s and women’s teams. One example of this is with basketball in the NBA vs. the WNBA. In 2012 the estimated median salary for the NBA was $2.5 million while the WNBA was caped at $878,000 for the whole team of 11 players (Woods, 1). There is also a huge wage gap in soccer; not only in the U.S. but other places such as Britain we well. BBC Sport reported in 2014 that in the World Cup that their male teams were awarded 22 million pounds (32.27 million U.S. dollars) while the women’s team was only awarded 630,000 pounds (924,021 U.S. dollars). With the wage gap being more prevalent than ever more women’s teams are starting to take a stand against equality. This is why the U.S. Soccer Women’s team has taken their position against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The U.S.
Women’s Soccer team is suing the U.S. Soccer Federation for wage discrimination between them and the men’s team. The suit is being headed by five of the well-known players; Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo. They have attorney Jeffrey Kessler who has much experience is setting disputes with in the sporting industry. He has represented players such as Tom Brady and Ray Rice in their disputes with professional leagues and organizations (ESPN,1). The suit is about more than just money. The team wants to be treated equally in all aspects of the sport. They want the same accommodations that the men’s team gets in things such as comfortable travel accommodations and to be able to play on grass fields; as started by Morgan “…we simply want equal treatment”. The players have constantly had to play on substandard, artificial turf fields. This is a problem for safety reason. The team has been advocating this through their social media, such as Hope Solo’s Instagram post of the turf field falling apart, and Sydney Dwyer’s tweet of her badly beaten up legs from the turf. Along with the social media attention in December of 2015 Megan Rapinoe tore her ACL while playing on turf (Blocks, 1). The women’s team is making their stand in order to win equal pay for the work that they do. The U.S. Women’s Soccer team have a potential to earn about $99,000 a year if they win all 20 exhibition matches, while the men’s team could earn about $100,000 a year minimum for just appearing in 20 games with the potential to win up to $263,320 a year if they will all their games (Fox Sports). The team also wants better playing
conditions. “We have been quite patient over the years with the belief that the federation would do the right thing and compensate us fairly” says Lloyd (The New York Times, Das). On March31st, 2016 Lloyd said that she thought “the timing is right I think we’ve proven our worth over the years”. In the eyes of not only Lloyd but the rest of the U.S. Women’s team it is time for a drastic change in the Federation. The women’s team is taking a stand on the pay discrepancy with in the U.S. Soccer Federation between the men’s’ and women’s team. Over the years the team has been proving themselves again and again. They have three World Cup championships accompanied with four Olympic championships. The success of women’s team has also brought great profit of about $20 million in 2015 (ESPN,1). The team is also projected to bring in more revenue by 2017. They are estimated to bring in $5.2 million while the men’s team is projected to actually lose the U.S. Soccer Federation about $1 million (PBS, Santhanam).
Solo has stated that she has been to many CBA negotiations and has seen little change come out of them (ESPN). Megan Rapinoe has recently said “it has become clear that the Federation has no intention of providing us equal pay for equal work” (ESPN). In January, the Women’s national Team union submitted a proposal for a new CBA that included equal pay for equal work, but was shut down (ESPN). Although there are five main player representatives who signed for the case the rest of the team is in support for it.
The U.S. Soccer Federation has had little to say about this situation. Shortly after the U.S. Women’s National team submitted a proposal for a new CBA, the Federation quickly sued the union supporting the team. U.S. Soccer’s statement to the reasoning was because of fears from the Federation that the players would go on strike before this year’s Olympics. The U.S. Women’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, things that this action was taken to distract from the team’s objectives of negotiating equality in the sport (USA Today). With all the negative press towards the U.S. Soccer Federation they released this statement. “Our efforts to be advocates for women’s soccer are unwavering. For 30 years, we have been a world leader in promoting the women’s games and are proud of the long-stranding commitment we have made to building women’s soccer in the United States and furthering opportunities in soccer for young women and girls around the world”
The Federation is trying to convince the audiences that they are still in support of women’s soccer and furthering equality for the sport. In many accounts they U.S. Soccer Federation has stated that they are disappointed in the action that the team has taken and that they want to come to an agreement and resolve the situation and efficient as possible. There is a lot out there about what the U.S. Women’s Soccer team is saying and a good amount of what the U.S. Soccer Federation thinks, but what about others on the outside of it. One advocate for the Women’s team is goalie Time Howard of the men’s team. Time told Sports Center that the men’s team supported the women’s team fight. He continues to say “we support the fact that the women should fight for their rights and fight for what they think is just compensation” (ESPN). Tim was not the only athlete from the means team in favor of the women’s team; Landon Donovan also tweeted in support of the women’s team (ESPN). It doesn’t just stop at other athletes; even some of the presidential candidates have chimed in. Both democratic nominees, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have shown their support for the teams. Bernie’s tweet said, “The time is long over due for pay equity in this country. I believe that they will win”(CNN, McKirdy). My overall opinion is that the U.S. Soccer Federation should give the team equal pay as the men. Some of the arguments through around are that the women’s team doesn’t bring is as much money and therefore shouldn’t be paid the same. Not only has that not been the case in the past few years and the projected future, but is an invalid response. The women work just as hard, and put in just as many hours as the men’s team and do well. They deserve to have the pay gap, at the lest, shortened some to show that the Federation is serious when they state that they are for furthering the equality between male and female athletes. To me U.S. Soccer is just trying to make excuses for not wanting to negotiate with the team. The U.S. Soccer Federation has shown poor ethics and judgment. They have claimed to be of support to help women’s in soccer become more equal to the men, but have been hypocrites when it has come to actually putting action behind those words in this situation. They have shown little will to negotiate and talk to the team to come to a solution that both parties can be happy with. The U.S. Soccer Federation needs to check what their company values and beliefs are and realign their actions on this situation with them. In conclusion The U.S Soccer Federation has been very inconsistent with their ethical company values and their action. The Women’s Soccer team has stood firm in their stand for equity in not only the pay gap, but also the conditions in which they play. They are taking a standpoint for a battle of discrimination that has affected not only their sport, but also other female professional and collegiate sports teams. The Women’s team has put the ball in the Federations field and all eyes are watching them to see how they will respond. Hopefully they will pick the ethical decision and help make a transition to a more equal playing field for women’s athletics.