Equal Pay for U.S. Women’s Soccer Team. But Is It Enough?

U.S. Women’s Soccer Team celebrates a World Cup win.

The gender gap within athlete’s salaries is not a new headline nor is it shocking news that women are fighting to be paid equally to their male counterparts. Since the 1970s, when Billie Jean King forged the way for females to make a living off of their sport, women athletes have worked tirelessly to assure that their teams be treated fairly and compensated appropriately.  

The fight for equal pay spans five decades.

As a result of Billie Jean King’s advocacy, tennis became the first sport to guarantee equal pay. Each Grand Slam offers the same prize money to male and female winners – even though men’s matches are longer and, therefore, can draw more of a revenue. The progressiveness of the International Tennis Association paved the way for the Equal Pay for Team USA Act of 2021, which requires equal pay for all athletes representing the U.S. in international sporting competitions. 

At the forefront of the fight for equal pay for over a half a decade has been the U.S. women’s national soccer team, which just settled an equal pay lawsuit for $24 million. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. soccer federation is considering the settlement to be back pay and has committed to paying its men’s and women’s teams equally in all competitions. While a huge victory for female athletes and a tribute to women empowerment, celebrations may be a bit premature. Equal pay for equal work is a standard that all organizations should uphold; however, payment when female athletes surpass their male counterparts’ success has scarcely been speculated. 

Women Outperform Men at World Cup and Olympics

It has been argued that men’s sports tend to bring in more money by reaching more of a crowd and drawing more revenue from advertisements. In the U.S. soccer federation’s case, this point would be one to carefully consider when debating payment – if only it were valid. For decades, the women have vastly outperformed the men. They have been top contenders in every World Cup and Olympic competition since the 1990s while the men’s best performance came in 2002 with a quarterfinal showing. In fact, the men have only qualified for 10 World Cups since 1930 and have not appeared in the Olympics since 2008. The women, on the other hand, have won 4 World Cups and 4 Olympic gold medals since 1991. As a result of their success, athletes such as Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan have been the face of countless advertising campaigns and spokespeople for various media platforms. They sell out stadiums and have worked to create a society in which girls can dream about becoming athletes. 

The fight for equality continues.

The women’s national soccer team should not be satisfied with equal pay. There is no feasible economic reason that the women’s soccer team should not be paid more than the men’s team. They play more games, win more competitions and draw in more sponsorships. Leaps toward gender equality within sports are clearly underway; however, it seems that there may be more to unlock and more to strive for.