The Fight For Gender Equality Continues But It Is In Good Hands
Back on July 7,
While Solo is no longer the goalkeeper for the U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team (USWNT), her social media posts from years ago are proof that the fight for equal pay in the American soccer world is taking its sweet time to be resolved.
Today, the U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team is still waging the war on gender discrimination and fighting to equal pay.
This week, in New York City, there will be another fabulous ticker-tape parade for our World Cup champions but little has changed on balancing the Men vs Women pay scale.
It is hard to ignore the glaring differences, especially when on the same day as the USA women rule the pitch in France and record their fourth World Cup, our Men’s National Team falls short and loses to rival Mexico in the Gold Cup which is just a regional tournament.
While the USA women’s team will be immortalized for being
Read: USA WOMEN WIN RECORD 4TH WORLD CUP
The politics of soccer are confusing.
Our World Cup champion U.S. Women’s National Team is clearly the best women’s squad in the world. Now that they have broken so many records … what will it take to have them achieve their goal of parity for the genders?
When will the women’s staff have the same budget as the men’s and what about funding youth programs for girls and branding efforts for the USWNT?
A direct comparison is hard. How much money a player makes is complicated and money comes from many sources
The gender pay gap explained by The Washington Post Fact Checker.
Tired of headlines citing that the women’s game isn’t as popular as the men’s — we now can all appreciate FOX Sports announcement that Sunday’s exciting USA 2-0 win over the Netherlands in the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™ Final delivered 14,271,000 viewers, peaking at nearly 20 million, across FOX and streaming services.
The Women’s World Cup Final was the most-watched soccer match on English-language television in the U.S. since the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ final.
How can sports enthusiasts still criticize women’s soccer as not attracting fans?
And then there are the earnings … According to CNBC, US women’s soccer games now generate more revenue than men’s— That’s according to audited financial statements from the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF).
“In the three years after the U.S. women’s soccer team won the 2015 World Cup, U.S. women’s games generated more total revenue than U.S. men’s games, according to audited financial reports from the U.S. Soccer Federation,” reported The Wall Street Journal on June 17, 2019.
- In 2016, women’s games generated $1.9 million more in revenue than men’s games
- From 2016 to 2018, women’s games generated approximately $50.8 million in revenue
- The men during the same time frame generated just a little less, coming in at $49.9 million
The real problem for the gender gap is FIFA’s payout to the winners. The total prize money for the 2019 Women’s World Cup is $30 million compared to the men’s whopping $400 million. The World Cup champions, if they are men, claim $38 million but if they are women, their share is a $4 million.
After four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals, the U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team has a great heritage deserving of respect.
The first step is for the gender discrimination pay issue to be corrected in America, and then to follow up to encourage FIFA to fix their lack of respect for the women’s game.
The class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation filed in federal court in Los Angeles under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is going to be the focal point for the next few weeks.
Hopefully, these players seeking equitable pay will crack the glass ceiling and change the future.
As you may remember, all 28 players of U.S. Soccer’s Women’s National Team player pool sued — with the goal of gaining equal pay.
The chanting “USA, USA, USA” during the World Cup final was loud, but it was only a whisper in comparison to the support these women have in their battle to end discrimination.
Infantino on the stage. Whole stadium chants “EQUAL PAY” #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/WIn9OCMdbU
— Lou (@loutalksfutbol) July 7, 2019
As the U.S. Soccer Federation and the players begin the mediation process soon, the world awaits more good news of another
READ: WOMEN’S SOCCER SCORES BIG WINS ON FIELD AND WITH TV RATINGS
