US Women’s Soccer Team Fights On and Off the Field for Equal Pay

In March, they filed a lawsuit against US soccer because of unequal pay. It stated: “A comparison of the WNT [Women’s National Team] and MNT [Men’s National Team] pay shows that if each team played 20 friendlies in a year and each team won all twenty friendlies, female WNT players would earn a maximum of $99,000 or $4,950 per game, while similarly situated male MNT players would earn an average of $263,320 or $13,166 per game against the various levels of competition they would face.” While some say it isn’t fair to make comparisons between the compensation of the two teams, by game standards the women’s team is much more successful than the men’s team. The women are now four-time World Cup champions as well as four-time Olympic champions while the men have never won either tournament. From 2016 to 2018, women’s games brought in almost $10 million more in revenue than the men’s games. Felipe Perez ’22 commented, “Despite being paid less, the US women’s team continues to win international titles, and have made a name for themselves as a force to be reckoned with in their league.”

The US soccer federation has claimed that there is no pay gap. They even hired two lobbyists to convince the judge that the USWNT is wrong. Their court date is set for May 5, 2020, just weeks before the summer Olympics. In the
meantime they hope to settle it without a trial, but their last mediation resulted in angry statements from both US soccer and the women’s team. Boys Varsity Soccer Coach, Joe Addison shared that he hopes it will be resolved, for the sake of soccer in the US. “The USSF will have a serious problem if it does not settle the current lawsuit with the USWNT and/or the team refuses to sign the next collective bargaining agreement. That is the power of winning–every soccer fan in this country wants to see more of the USWNT and will rightfully blame the USSF if players go on strike for equal pay,” he said.

Throughout their season, the US women’s soccer players are not just training and competing in games, they are also taking a stand for women’s rights and inspiring younger girls and soccer players to support what they believe in. Anishi Kalaria ’22 shared, “I believe that as younger players grow, they will not be willing to accept the gap in pay between men and women players. The fight for equal pay will affect them in a way that will make them feel stronger when they are older or professional athletes.”