Wage Discrimination Against Women

The date was November 30, 1991. This would be the first of three times the U.S. Women’s National soccer team would win the World Cup. ("U.S. Soccer Timeline") The women would also win the World Cup in 1999 and 2015 and would win the Olympics in 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012. This would begin a run of the women winning over a 150 matches in a 25-year span. ("U.S. Soccer Timeline") They are considered by many to be the number one team in the world and have a number of accolades such as Sports Illustrated Sportsmen of the Year and they received an “Outstanding Team Award’ at the ESPYS this past year.
On March 31, 2016, five key members of the World Cup winning team filed a federal complaint accusing the U.S. Soccer Federation of wage discrimination.
(Bonesteel) They cited in their complaint, the men’s national team had earned a little over forty percent more than the women’s team earned. (Goff) The five players, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn, are cited in the complaint but they players state they are doing it on the behalf of the team. (Das) The case was submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a federal agency that imposes civil rights laws against discrimination in the workplace or on the field in this case. (Das) The women cited in their case the use of Title IX, gender equality legislation, as guidelines on why people cannot discriminate in the workplace. Title IX specifically states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” (Education) The women want equal pay compared to the men because they felt they have earned through winning the World Cup three times and the Olympics five times compared to the men winning neither a World Cup or the Olympics.
The women of the U.S. National soccer team deserve equal pay no matter the circumstances. The women exceeded the revenue projections in 2015 by over 16 million dollars (Das). They have won games that are more important then the men i.e., the World Cup, Olympics, and therefore deserve just as equal pay as the men have. Their game against Japan in the 2015 World Cup set a record for the most viewers watching a soccer game in the United States-25.4 million viewers (Das). Although the U.S. Women’s National team may face weaker competition and may not have as many teams to face, they still make more revenue than the U.S. Men’s National team does and therefore deserves just as much pay and benefits as the men have. The women have been a phenomenal team over the past 25 years and deserve to be equally paid just as the men are. The women are payed 3,600 dollars compared to the 5,000 dollars the men earn when they play a single match (Yourish, Ward, and Almukhtar). The women receive 1,350 dollars in bonus money if they win while the men receive approximately 5,000 dollars in bonus money if they win a match (Yourish, Ward, and Almukhtar). The women have won more games over the past couple of years than the men and they deserve to earn the same amount in bonuses. The pay structure of the World Cup, a tournament in which teams across the world compete, is very unstable and skewed. In 2015, when the women won the World Cup, they earned 2 million dollars for winning while the men earned 9 million without advancing to the quarterfinals. The men also earn more than twice the amount the women would earn in bonuses per player on the World Cup level as well, depending on where the team had finished in the competition. The highest the men have finished in a World Cup is third place in 1930 and the women have won the World Cup three times.
Everybody seems to have a view on this issue. The fans do, the U.S. men’s national team does, and of course, the members of the team have a view of this. The fans come out to support the women’s team as Tom Lovkay, a hardcore team, presented some insight and support into this love for the team. “We’ve known about this and supported them for a long time, we want fair play for women everywhere,” said Lovkay at a recent game (Bondy). Fans were seen holding signs that said, “Equal Pay=Equal Play.” (Bondy) This goes to show that the fans will be there for the women and know that they deserve equal pay as well.
Tim Howard, a professional soccer player and a member of the U.S.
men’s national team says, “Any time, no matter the gender or the race, someone feels they are underpaid, it is a problem, and I feel they should fight for their rights, no matter what. Other than that, they have their battle to fight, and they should do that.” (Mather) He believes in equal pay for women and so should other people as well (Mather). Carli Lloyd, the captain of the women’s team, said after one game as saying, “We are trying to set the standard and get what we deserve.” (Body) This goes to illustrate that the women do not just want to obtain equal pay for women soccer players in the U.S. but women soccer players all over the
world.
Some people may argue that the U.S.
women’s national soccer does not deserve equal pay to their counterparts, the men’s national team for various reasons. One reason may be that people believe that the men’s competition is much fiercer than the women’s competition. Although the women’s team wins their games by larger margins, they still face tough competition. Maybe the women’s team has more talent and skill then the men’s team as well. Another reason people might not believe in equal pay for the Women’s national team would be because the women’s professional league in the United States may not produce as much money as the men’s pro league in the United States does. However, the women’s national team definitely makes up for the difference in that aspect. The final reason people may not want equal pay for the women’s team may be because they just do not want them to have equal pay. People need to realize there was a law put into place regarding this issue, Title IX, and therefore the women’s national team should be payed equally as well as the
men.