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Women Demand Equal Pay For U.S. Female Soccer Team, Men Try To List The Reasons Why They Shouldn’t In Response
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Women Demand Equal Pay For U.S. Female Soccer Team, Men Try To List The Reasons Why They Shouldn’t In Response

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After making the nation proud with yet another soccer World Cup triumph, fans and players of the all-conquering U.S. Women’s National team immediately restated their demands for equal pay with their lesser-decorated male counterparts.

As FIFA president Gianni Infantino strode onto the pitch for presentations after the USA beat Netherlands 2-0 in the final, a large section of the crowd could be heard loudly and clearly, chanting their wish for gender equality. Equal pay! Equal Pay!

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When you look at the stats related to performance alone, it’s impossible to argue against equal pay, at the very least. The USWNT has dominated women’s soccer championships since the first World Cup in 1991, winning four titles and placing at least third in the other four.

In contrast, the men’s team has struggled. The best US Soccer Team’s result in the illustrious tournament is the 3rd place, back at the very first World Cup in 1930, when only eight teams entered.

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When it comes to World Cup prize money, this is decided by FIFA. As the men’s World Cup is a much older and more established competition, interest and revenues are still far higher, and the prize money reflects this.

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The prize for the 2018 men’s World Cup stood at $400 million, while female players will receive $30 million this year. FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the organization would double it for the next women’s World Cup in 2023, but star player Megan Rapinoe said there still would be a long way to go.
“It certainly is not fair,” she said. “We should double it now and use that number to double it or quadruple it for the next time.”

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The issue with the US team is that the players earn less despite generating more revenue locally than their male counterparts

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Domestically in the U.S. market, the women’s team are by far the more successful both on and off the pitch. US women’s soccer games now generate more revenue locally than men’s—but the players still earn less.

The Women’s team filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation some months ago, suing them for gender discrimination by paying the women less than members of the men’s national team.

The claim is that the women do “substantially equal work and are denied at least equal playing, training, and travel conditions; equal promotion of their games; equal support and development for their games; and other terms and conditions of employment equal to the MNT.”

“At this moment of tremendous pride for America, the sad equation remains all too clear, and Americans won’t stand for it anymore,” said Molly Levinson, spokeswoman for the USWNT players in their equal pay lawsuit.

“These athletes generate more revenue and garner higher TV ratings but get paid less simply because they are women.”

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This is why the lawsuit is going ahead, with support from the men’s team.

“The United States National Soccer Team Players Association fully supports the efforts of the US Women’s National Team Players to achieve equal pay,” they say in a statement. “Specifically, we are committed to the concept of a revenue-sharing model to address the US Soccer Federation’s ‘market realities’ and find a way towards fair compensation.”

What do you think? Should the U.S. Women’s National Team be getting equal pay to the men from the US soccer federation?

What about the World Cup? Is the division of prize money fair, when revenues are taken into account? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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burkin avatar
floriannetter81 avatar
Quazer
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

@Nico7431 Congratulations - that´s the most stupid thing i´ve ever had to read in a while. Hey, female pornstars earn much more than male counterparts... soooo... let´s have an outrage about that, too?

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thinkback avatar
Jon Payne
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone else want to see the Women’s team compete against the Men’s?

megoblocks avatar
Galen Surlak-Ramsey
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Except they're not underpaid. When you look at revenue brought in, they're overpaid. So if they want equal pay and want to fight for it, they should all be taking a cut in pay, not asking for more.

adamserot avatar
Frankenfrog
Community Member
4 years ago

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They bring in more revenue than the men's team, so where's your god now?

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vernwall avatar
Jewels Vern
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because people won't pay to watch female sports. DUH! Same as people won't pay to watch male nude dancers, but a female can rake in a million bux from age 18 to age 24. DUH!

inhighspeed avatar
Adam_C
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I beg to differ on the point that people won't pay to watch male nude dancers! Bring them on bro.

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mark-mckenzie_1 avatar
anarkzie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Look I'm all for equal rights but this argument is stupid, You're comparing stats at about how well the women's team performed against that of the men, goals scored and placement in the tournament etc but that has nothing to do with how much money was made by each team, if the guys team pulled in 1 million after a game and the women after winning and scoring more goals in their game only pulled in 100 thousand then how are you expecting both sides to be paid the same? This is gender communism and undermines the real fight for equal pay.

mark-mckenzie_1 avatar
anarkzie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry to correct my own comment the problem is that the men's tournament overall generates more money that the women's, the last world cup generated almost $4 billion whereas the women's world cup overall brought in almost $73 million, divide that among the teams in the world cup and you see why women are getting paid less. The female team probably contributes a larger slice into the $73 Million than the male team do into the 4 billion it's still a smaller figure over all.

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rockyjoe avatar
Rocky Joe
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Want some equality? Ask women to purchase women football team merchandise as men do.

dremosley avatar
Dre Mosley
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's great that they won, but as has been stated, women's sports don't bring in anywhere near as much cash. I suppose LFL players should get paid as much as the NFL, huh?

jade1445 avatar
Jonathan Litton
Community Member
4 years ago

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Just ask them to compare male performers in porn to female ones, the same for modeling. Watch them run away from their equal pay talks really quick.

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frenchconnection949 avatar
SurfrTx
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Have you watched the women's wc this year? Seriously there's some talented players but the amount of f..k ups are insane.

dfreg avatar
Leodavinci
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Every article and comment here and online almost everywhere is irrelevant. Players and their reps should be discussing money issues with team owners. Like it or not, neither fans, nor anyone else has any direct involvement outside of buying tickets and merchandise.

redsongamble avatar
TheExtremeSmell
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree. WNBA players should also be paid the same as their NBA counter parts. Even if it destroys the WNBA financially and has to shut down!

cassfalcon avatar
Falcon
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bored Panda trying to get us to hate men again! And no, you don't have to be a man to understand maths. The pay is not a set amount; it is a percentage. If the women's team wants the same pay as the men's, they will get a pay-cut. From 13% down to 9%.

tomasz_sikorski_777 avatar
Tom Sikorski
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s interesting to observe that men are demonised mostly in the western countries where women enjoy equal rights while there are limited discussions about terrible treatment of women in the countries where they are treated really badly and the lack of equal pay is the least to worry about. There is almost no day without historical made-up stories to prove men that we are terrible creatures who appears to acquire our ‘special’ rights in the societies mainly due to unfair competition with the opposite sex. Sometimes I really wonder what went wrong with this world and where we are going to end.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Women want equality when they think they are oppressed. Then when its given they throw fits and cry patriarchy because men actually treat women better than we treat each other. You want equality or chivalry/gentlemen? You cant have both

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bruno_mruzin avatar
Beh Pnkt
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Female Football is not very good in terms of skill. You can actually look up games from "professional" women teams against male youth clubs and in almost every case, the grown up women got their asses kicked by 14 - 16 year old boys. So I think that they are actually getting paid quite well.

frenchconnection949 avatar
SurfrTx
Community Member
4 years ago

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Found this bias edited videos on Youtube. Women vs U15 boys. Read the comments lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMh0yOa-uqQ

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chopraadithya avatar
Adithya Manoj
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm all in for womens football but its my choice whether to like and it and watch it,The competition is significantly lower in the professional tier of womens football, the US Womens Team racked up a magnificent 26 goals throughout the tournament, you won't see that in men's football, the equation is simple, competition is much higher in the men's game. Times will change for sure, but for the time being, all those who are hating the US Soccer Federation for unequal wages, you gotta understand the simple fact that both of them are on a different level at least for the time being.

eddienegron avatar
Eddie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Economics, plain and simple. Not to mention when you have an a*s-hat kneeling during the national anthem the number of viewers drop. Just ask the NFL.

markont avatar
Alex Mont
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Then my sons peewee soccer team should be making just as much as the Manchester United squad.......... my god

brent_kaufman_18 avatar
Brent Kaufman
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As someone said, "The women's team is superior to the men's..." Correct. They are superior, in their league and against their competition, to the men, in their league and against their competition. Any team/athlete should only make what they are worth, considering the revenue that they bring in. They should be paid their value. If they bring in the same money, they should make the same money. If they bring in more money than the men, they should make more money than the men.

jason_doakes avatar
Jason Doakes
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So much bad faith in this whole discussion, on both sides; US local soccer revenue is approximately the same (not "by far higher"), but the wages of the local soccer teams are not paid by the National Team, because the National Team has no revenue from the League games. The National Team pays with revenue from the World-Cup, where the male-team audience is 6 Billion people who watch commercials, versus ~300million for female teams. Why would I pay you the same salary for 95% less exposure? They should talk to their employers in the league, where they signed employment contracts..., ok I see the problem.... the free market didn't work for them, so they try to milk the National Team, sorry this has nothing to do with equality. Winning is not the same as making money, ad-revenue is the real money, the price money is ridiculously small.

jeffrequier_1 avatar
Jeff Requier
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The US team winning or placing a lot doesnt mean anything when it comes to the Revenue of the ENTIRE sport. Mens soccer means every country in FIFA, European and South American teams are just better.

max_lombardi_mi avatar
Max L.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah si ? Bhe', provate a sentire le calciatrici della nazionale italiana... come son contente di essere arrivate ai quarti dei mondiali, mentre la squadra maschile... no.

davesale01 avatar
Dave Shaw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Play the mens national team and if you can beat them then equality of pay, plus the standard of competition in womens world cup is nowhere near the quality and standard of the mens.

olanickyforchrist avatar
Coffee
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's pure economics people. You get a percentage of how much you generate, regardless of your gender. If you generate more, you get more, if you generate less, you get less. It's simple Maths.

boredpanda_128 avatar
Mike
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing. Until this year, I had no idea there WAS a women's team. That likely has a LOT to do with the pay situation.

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Linouchka 99
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think the revenues generated by both teams should be added and equally shared between them...

blueyodel73 avatar
Brian Irby
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Does anyone know if this revenue sharing model is anything like what they have in the NFL?

miklosnagy avatar
Miklós Nagy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The same reason why swimmers, triathlonists, or pretty much any other stport(wo)man earn less than f*ckin football players. :/

aljd85 avatar
Dani
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perhaps if they had the same kind of money to start with for ads, stadiums etc they could bring in more money. Revenue is a symptom of the problem not the problem itself.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is that why the NHL is not as popular as MLB? Its just not true. People are not as interested in women's soccer as they are in the NHL and the NHL just isnt as popular as MLB. Thats life. The women here earned WAY more than NHL players in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Its viewership and revenue.

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aussiesnowdropper avatar
aussie snowdropper
Community Member
4 years ago

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the main question is,who gives a c**p about the Merican soccer team !!!!

cschumann08 avatar
Claudia Schumann
Community Member
4 years ago

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I think for the USA teams the women's team is so much better. They should get at least equal pay to the USA men's team or more. The men's team gets all this money but they are lousy team! It's just another case of faulty thinking that men should get more than women!

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The women earn 4% more. You compare the 2 like they are equal. Lets put your money where your mouth is and have the 2 teams play each other. Spoiler... the Men will slaughter them. Its revenue sharing. Go back and take an economics class before posting naive comments on the internet for all to see.

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chiapetvet avatar
Kelly Pavlik
Community Member
4 years ago

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If male players really cared about the female players they would take a pay cut. The same type of things are happening in Hollywood. Me are standing up for their female counterparts.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?

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lauragillette avatar
Laura Gillette
Community Member
4 years ago

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Where are people getting these numbers? According to the WSJ, the women's team has brought in more revenue than the men's team for the past 3 years: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-womens-soccer-games-out-earned-mens-games-11560765600

halocodmw2 avatar
Ryan Badgley
Community Member
4 years ago

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yeah id bring in as much cash too if I had a 60 year head start in dominating the market since men and women are both under fifa why not share the revenue in the mens take in and spread to the female teams equally and help promote the womens teams more like a restaurant where they pull tips no difference there it doesn't matter how much the men teams bring in cause its been saturated once again 60 years prior the womens team of course people will watch it more cause it was there first its like two competing scifis depending who did it first will attract the larger fan base

jade1445 avatar
Jonathan Litton
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gender communism is about as legitimate of an economic system as any other form of communism.

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victorrsytnik avatar
Russian Otaku
Community Member
4 years ago

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Both are over paid the disgusting males just are extremely overpaid. None of them deserve a quarter of what they get just to either sit on their a*s or just play with some balls

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You realize the mens team gets 9% of revenue and the women get 13%? Just saying...

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creamygoodnes avatar
C.S.
Community Member
4 years ago

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Women don't take pansy fake falls to draw a foul like men do. If anything they're the biggest cry babies in the sport. If your hurt, your hurt. If you're not, get up pu$$y, you're vagina is leaking. These girls are tough, they play the sport. They don't "act." Then deserve more plain and simple. They deliver. It's like a lawyer who brings in client, but another lawyer wins there cases. Sure, one brings more profit. But only because someone else is making the name for the company.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok so explain how NHL players who participated in the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 only made 80K per player for the entire tournament and they dont act like pussies? Could it possibly be that its 150% revenue based??? Its not a gender or sport issue... its ECONOMICS!

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Simon Maslak
Community Member
4 years ago

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Actually, there should be a pay gap. /the women's team play better football, are more successful, and spend less time rolling round the floor crying because they fall over than the men do. Pay the women more.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?

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emyred79 avatar
Emy Loves
Community Member
4 years ago

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I asked one of my male coworkers what he thought about this. His reply was, "I'm sure the women on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition make more money than the men do on the same magazine cover." WTH? Just goes to show ya how it all seems to work :( Well ladies, I guess we need to have our bikinis on (or nothing) at all times in order to make more money. Our world is so screwed up.....

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Gary Scott
Community Member
4 years ago

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Broadcasters have kept this off TV for years. It's only nw just starting to be on TV on a regular basis after protests about how TV companies were excluding the women's game. More pressure needs to be put on them to actually show games. With that will come the money of course but the discrimination is with TV companies. Supporters love the women's game when they see it...

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Patrick Millet
Community Member
4 years ago (edited)

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Although I personally think professional athletes in general are way overpaid, this pay disparity is inherently sexist regardless of the economic reasons.. Heck, some of the men's team revenue could be redistributed to the women's team. That would show solidarity.

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Kristin Palpini Hale
Community Member
4 years ago (edited)

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The people saying BUT THE REVENUE! aren't considering the percentage of said revenue paid to women soccer players is significantly less than what is paid to men. And wtf boredpanda? You couldn't break that down? Not one tweet in support of pay equity?

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KrisF
Community Member
4 years ago

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Globally do the men earn more? Yes. A bigger issue to me is that FIFA (and most team sports) argue that women don't draw as big of a crowd and get the same revenue. Except they don't advertise or televise the women as much, and charge less for the tickets and the ads,etc. Of course their revenue is lower.

captaindash avatar
Full Name
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Are you suggesting that FIFA doesn't do what it can to make the most money? If those investments paid off they'd be all over them. It's not a conspiracy. .

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Adam Francis
Community Member
4 years ago

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'Cause the women's team can suck it, that's why. They're a bunch of disrespectful idiots that don't like the country they're playing for.

unequalpod avatar
Noodles
Community Member
4 years ago

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I bet your mother and father are sister and brother and you have a baby with your aunt Velma. Go eat another Big Mac you hillbilly.

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isirota1965 avatar
Ian Sirota
Community Member
4 years ago

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I for one do NOT think that these women should get paid the same as the men. They should get paid a lot more, because their track record of success and in inspiring the nation is WAY better than the men's team. Just my two cents.................

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Maria Bumbac
Community Member
4 years ago

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Disparity is justified...yes like discrimination? It is just a matter of beliefs education and will. You just have to change behaviour to look like men and beliefs...and you will have perhaps the same result. And serves equality wich is better thant this f...discrimination

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Hugo Raible
Community Member
4 years ago

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Finally an article with common sense and based on actual statistics here on Bored Panda. Thank you!

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lyra vincent
Community Member
4 years ago

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Honestly, these comments are shocking. Women's football has been a minority for so long and only just reccently have they become more popular. I agree that their smaller pay is fair because of the revenue-but why do they have less? It's because of the fact that women's teams are female and people are prejudiced against them because they're 'worse'. All in all, its just a game and gender should be irrelevant to it. Despite this fact, its not and its an awful shame. I think that what everyone should be fighting against is the fact that its not as popular and for sexism and misconceptions.

rockyjoe avatar
Rocky Joe
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why not try out the two times women world cup winner against the current UEFA Champion and maybe, you can see why men are paid more.

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Esther
Community Member
4 years ago

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I think it should be more of a solidarity thing. Of course men football competitions bring more money into the pot, due to merchandise and sold tickets, but why isn´t it possible that the big companies like FIFA or UEFA share these incomes more equaliy. Just because men sports are more supported, doesn´t mean that women put less energy and time into their sports field. So if men football brings 400 billion dollars by tickets and merch. and women football brings 130 billion dollars, why not share the money more equaly. It´s not the womens fault, that society isn´t already supporting the idea of women playing football as much as they support men playing it. Maybe if women earned more, it would be more interesting for girls to start playing.... The professional men football players earn such an enormous amount of money....to me it´s just ridiculous........sorry for any grammar mistakes, i´m no native.

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DP von Icecream
Community Member
4 years ago (edited)

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This was also an issue for the Dutch women's soccer team & before the World Cup this was altered & changed. Now they earn the exact same amount as the Dutch male soccer team. And like the Dutch men, according typical "DUTCH WORLD CUP SOCCER TRADITION": THESE WOMEN ALSO LOST IN THE FINALS, JUST LIKE THE MEN. F-ing great! Anyway the USA were the better player, the better team. Congrats USA with this deserved win!

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Luka Hamer
Community Member
4 years ago

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Funny how fragile male ego's downvote all comments in support of the women team and conveniently read over this part of the article: 'Domestically in the U.S. market, the women’s team are by far the more successful both on and off the pitch. US women’s soccer games now generate more revenue locally than men’s—but the players still earn less.'

cassfalcon avatar
Falcon
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

< Female that just down-voted you. You don't have to be male to understand basic maths.

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SkyTheImaginer
Community Member
4 years ago

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Pff competition, I've seen the females team spill more blood than the mens.

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Rebecca Afzal
Community Member
4 years ago

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Look at the difference in salary cap between the men's and women's leagues. If it was just about revenue the caps should be the same and everyone should be paid what they are worth. The women are not allowed to make more then the highest players are already being paid.

burkin avatar
floriannetter81 avatar
Quazer
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

@Nico7431 Congratulations - that´s the most stupid thing i´ve ever had to read in a while. Hey, female pornstars earn much more than male counterparts... soooo... let´s have an outrage about that, too?

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thinkback avatar
Jon Payne
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone else want to see the Women’s team compete against the Men’s?

megoblocks avatar
Galen Surlak-Ramsey
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Except they're not underpaid. When you look at revenue brought in, they're overpaid. So if they want equal pay and want to fight for it, they should all be taking a cut in pay, not asking for more.

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Frankenfrog
Community Member
4 years ago

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They bring in more revenue than the men's team, so where's your god now?

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vernwall avatar
Jewels Vern
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because people won't pay to watch female sports. DUH! Same as people won't pay to watch male nude dancers, but a female can rake in a million bux from age 18 to age 24. DUH!

inhighspeed avatar
Adam_C
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I beg to differ on the point that people won't pay to watch male nude dancers! Bring them on bro.

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mark-mckenzie_1 avatar
anarkzie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Look I'm all for equal rights but this argument is stupid, You're comparing stats at about how well the women's team performed against that of the men, goals scored and placement in the tournament etc but that has nothing to do with how much money was made by each team, if the guys team pulled in 1 million after a game and the women after winning and scoring more goals in their game only pulled in 100 thousand then how are you expecting both sides to be paid the same? This is gender communism and undermines the real fight for equal pay.

mark-mckenzie_1 avatar
anarkzie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry to correct my own comment the problem is that the men's tournament overall generates more money that the women's, the last world cup generated almost $4 billion whereas the women's world cup overall brought in almost $73 million, divide that among the teams in the world cup and you see why women are getting paid less. The female team probably contributes a larger slice into the $73 Million than the male team do into the 4 billion it's still a smaller figure over all.

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rockyjoe avatar
Rocky Joe
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Want some equality? Ask women to purchase women football team merchandise as men do.

dremosley avatar
Dre Mosley
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's great that they won, but as has been stated, women's sports don't bring in anywhere near as much cash. I suppose LFL players should get paid as much as the NFL, huh?

jade1445 avatar
Jonathan Litton
Community Member
4 years ago

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Just ask them to compare male performers in porn to female ones, the same for modeling. Watch them run away from their equal pay talks really quick.

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frenchconnection949 avatar
SurfrTx
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Have you watched the women's wc this year? Seriously there's some talented players but the amount of f..k ups are insane.

dfreg avatar
Leodavinci
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Every article and comment here and online almost everywhere is irrelevant. Players and their reps should be discussing money issues with team owners. Like it or not, neither fans, nor anyone else has any direct involvement outside of buying tickets and merchandise.

redsongamble avatar
TheExtremeSmell
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree. WNBA players should also be paid the same as their NBA counter parts. Even if it destroys the WNBA financially and has to shut down!

cassfalcon avatar
Falcon
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bored Panda trying to get us to hate men again! And no, you don't have to be a man to understand maths. The pay is not a set amount; it is a percentage. If the women's team wants the same pay as the men's, they will get a pay-cut. From 13% down to 9%.

tomasz_sikorski_777 avatar
Tom Sikorski
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s interesting to observe that men are demonised mostly in the western countries where women enjoy equal rights while there are limited discussions about terrible treatment of women in the countries where they are treated really badly and the lack of equal pay is the least to worry about. There is almost no day without historical made-up stories to prove men that we are terrible creatures who appears to acquire our ‘special’ rights in the societies mainly due to unfair competition with the opposite sex. Sometimes I really wonder what went wrong with this world and where we are going to end.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Women want equality when they think they are oppressed. Then when its given they throw fits and cry patriarchy because men actually treat women better than we treat each other. You want equality or chivalry/gentlemen? You cant have both

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Beh Pnkt
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Female Football is not very good in terms of skill. You can actually look up games from "professional" women teams against male youth clubs and in almost every case, the grown up women got their asses kicked by 14 - 16 year old boys. So I think that they are actually getting paid quite well.

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SurfrTx
Community Member
4 years ago

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Found this bias edited videos on Youtube. Women vs U15 boys. Read the comments lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMh0yOa-uqQ

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Adithya Manoj
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm all in for womens football but its my choice whether to like and it and watch it,The competition is significantly lower in the professional tier of womens football, the US Womens Team racked up a magnificent 26 goals throughout the tournament, you won't see that in men's football, the equation is simple, competition is much higher in the men's game. Times will change for sure, but for the time being, all those who are hating the US Soccer Federation for unequal wages, you gotta understand the simple fact that both of them are on a different level at least for the time being.

eddienegron avatar
Eddie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Economics, plain and simple. Not to mention when you have an a*s-hat kneeling during the national anthem the number of viewers drop. Just ask the NFL.

markont avatar
Alex Mont
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Then my sons peewee soccer team should be making just as much as the Manchester United squad.......... my god

brent_kaufman_18 avatar
Brent Kaufman
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As someone said, "The women's team is superior to the men's..." Correct. They are superior, in their league and against their competition, to the men, in their league and against their competition. Any team/athlete should only make what they are worth, considering the revenue that they bring in. They should be paid their value. If they bring in the same money, they should make the same money. If they bring in more money than the men, they should make more money than the men.

jason_doakes avatar
Jason Doakes
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So much bad faith in this whole discussion, on both sides; US local soccer revenue is approximately the same (not "by far higher"), but the wages of the local soccer teams are not paid by the National Team, because the National Team has no revenue from the League games. The National Team pays with revenue from the World-Cup, where the male-team audience is 6 Billion people who watch commercials, versus ~300million for female teams. Why would I pay you the same salary for 95% less exposure? They should talk to their employers in the league, where they signed employment contracts..., ok I see the problem.... the free market didn't work for them, so they try to milk the National Team, sorry this has nothing to do with equality. Winning is not the same as making money, ad-revenue is the real money, the price money is ridiculously small.

jeffrequier_1 avatar
Jeff Requier
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The US team winning or placing a lot doesnt mean anything when it comes to the Revenue of the ENTIRE sport. Mens soccer means every country in FIFA, European and South American teams are just better.

max_lombardi_mi avatar
Max L.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah si ? Bhe', provate a sentire le calciatrici della nazionale italiana... come son contente di essere arrivate ai quarti dei mondiali, mentre la squadra maschile... no.

davesale01 avatar
Dave Shaw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Play the mens national team and if you can beat them then equality of pay, plus the standard of competition in womens world cup is nowhere near the quality and standard of the mens.

olanickyforchrist avatar
Coffee
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's pure economics people. You get a percentage of how much you generate, regardless of your gender. If you generate more, you get more, if you generate less, you get less. It's simple Maths.

boredpanda_128 avatar
Mike
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing. Until this year, I had no idea there WAS a women's team. That likely has a LOT to do with the pay situation.

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Linouchka 99
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think the revenues generated by both teams should be added and equally shared between them...

blueyodel73 avatar
Brian Irby
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Does anyone know if this revenue sharing model is anything like what they have in the NFL?

miklosnagy avatar
Miklós Nagy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The same reason why swimmers, triathlonists, or pretty much any other stport(wo)man earn less than f*ckin football players. :/

aljd85 avatar
Dani
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perhaps if they had the same kind of money to start with for ads, stadiums etc they could bring in more money. Revenue is a symptom of the problem not the problem itself.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is that why the NHL is not as popular as MLB? Its just not true. People are not as interested in women's soccer as they are in the NHL and the NHL just isnt as popular as MLB. Thats life. The women here earned WAY more than NHL players in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Its viewership and revenue.

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aussiesnowdropper avatar
aussie snowdropper
Community Member
4 years ago

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the main question is,who gives a c**p about the Merican soccer team !!!!

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Claudia Schumann
Community Member
4 years ago

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I think for the USA teams the women's team is so much better. They should get at least equal pay to the USA men's team or more. The men's team gets all this money but they are lousy team! It's just another case of faulty thinking that men should get more than women!

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The women earn 4% more. You compare the 2 like they are equal. Lets put your money where your mouth is and have the 2 teams play each other. Spoiler... the Men will slaughter them. Its revenue sharing. Go back and take an economics class before posting naive comments on the internet for all to see.

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Kelly Pavlik
Community Member
4 years ago

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If male players really cared about the female players they would take a pay cut. The same type of things are happening in Hollywood. Me are standing up for their female counterparts.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?

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Laura Gillette
Community Member
4 years ago

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Where are people getting these numbers? According to the WSJ, the women's team has brought in more revenue than the men's team for the past 3 years: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-womens-soccer-games-out-earned-mens-games-11560765600

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Ryan Badgley
Community Member
4 years ago

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yeah id bring in as much cash too if I had a 60 year head start in dominating the market since men and women are both under fifa why not share the revenue in the mens take in and spread to the female teams equally and help promote the womens teams more like a restaurant where they pull tips no difference there it doesn't matter how much the men teams bring in cause its been saturated once again 60 years prior the womens team of course people will watch it more cause it was there first its like two competing scifis depending who did it first will attract the larger fan base

jade1445 avatar
Jonathan Litton
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gender communism is about as legitimate of an economic system as any other form of communism.

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victorrsytnik avatar
Russian Otaku
Community Member
4 years ago

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Both are over paid the disgusting males just are extremely overpaid. None of them deserve a quarter of what they get just to either sit on their a*s or just play with some balls

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You realize the mens team gets 9% of revenue and the women get 13%? Just saying...

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C.S.
Community Member
4 years ago

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Women don't take pansy fake falls to draw a foul like men do. If anything they're the biggest cry babies in the sport. If your hurt, your hurt. If you're not, get up pu$$y, you're vagina is leaking. These girls are tough, they play the sport. They don't "act." Then deserve more plain and simple. They deliver. It's like a lawyer who brings in client, but another lawyer wins there cases. Sure, one brings more profit. But only because someone else is making the name for the company.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok so explain how NHL players who participated in the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 only made 80K per player for the entire tournament and they dont act like pussies? Could it possibly be that its 150% revenue based??? Its not a gender or sport issue... its ECONOMICS!

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Simon Maslak
Community Member
4 years ago

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Actually, there should be a pay gap. /the women's team play better football, are more successful, and spend less time rolling round the floor crying because they fall over than the men do. Pay the women more.

tobinkernalphapuck avatar
AlphaPuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?

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emyred79 avatar
Emy Loves
Community Member
4 years ago

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I asked one of my male coworkers what he thought about this. His reply was, "I'm sure the women on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition make more money than the men do on the same magazine cover." WTH? Just goes to show ya how it all seems to work :( Well ladies, I guess we need to have our bikinis on (or nothing) at all times in order to make more money. Our world is so screwed up.....

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Gary Scott
Community Member
4 years ago

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Broadcasters have kept this off TV for years. It's only nw just starting to be on TV on a regular basis after protests about how TV companies were excluding the women's game. More pressure needs to be put on them to actually show games. With that will come the money of course but the discrimination is with TV companies. Supporters love the women's game when they see it...

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Patrick Millet
Community Member
4 years ago (edited)

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Although I personally think professional athletes in general are way overpaid, this pay disparity is inherently sexist regardless of the economic reasons.. Heck, some of the men's team revenue could be redistributed to the women's team. That would show solidarity.

kpalp232 avatar
Kristin Palpini Hale
Community Member
4 years ago (edited)

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The people saying BUT THE REVENUE! aren't considering the percentage of said revenue paid to women soccer players is significantly less than what is paid to men. And wtf boredpanda? You couldn't break that down? Not one tweet in support of pay equity?

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KrisF
Community Member
4 years ago

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Globally do the men earn more? Yes. A bigger issue to me is that FIFA (and most team sports) argue that women don't draw as big of a crowd and get the same revenue. Except they don't advertise or televise the women as much, and charge less for the tickets and the ads,etc. Of course their revenue is lower.

captaindash avatar
Full Name
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Are you suggesting that FIFA doesn't do what it can to make the most money? If those investments paid off they'd be all over them. It's not a conspiracy. .

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Adam Francis
Community Member
4 years ago

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'Cause the women's team can suck it, that's why. They're a bunch of disrespectful idiots that don't like the country they're playing for.

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Noodles
Community Member
4 years ago

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I bet your mother and father are sister and brother and you have a baby with your aunt Velma. Go eat another Big Mac you hillbilly.

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isirota1965 avatar
Ian Sirota
Community Member
4 years ago

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I for one do NOT think that these women should get paid the same as the men. They should get paid a lot more, because their track record of success and in inspiring the nation is WAY better than the men's team. Just my two cents.................

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Maria Bumbac
Community Member
4 years ago

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Disparity is justified...yes like discrimination? It is just a matter of beliefs education and will. You just have to change behaviour to look like men and beliefs...and you will have perhaps the same result. And serves equality wich is better thant this f...discrimination

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Hugo Raible
Community Member
4 years ago

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Finally an article with common sense and based on actual statistics here on Bored Panda. Thank you!

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lyra vincent
Community Member
4 years ago

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Honestly, these comments are shocking. Women's football has been a minority for so long and only just reccently have they become more popular. I agree that their smaller pay is fair because of the revenue-but why do they have less? It's because of the fact that women's teams are female and people are prejudiced against them because they're 'worse'. All in all, its just a game and gender should be irrelevant to it. Despite this fact, its not and its an awful shame. I think that what everyone should be fighting against is the fact that its not as popular and for sexism and misconceptions.

rockyjoe avatar
Rocky Joe
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why not try out the two times women world cup winner against the current UEFA Champion and maybe, you can see why men are paid more.

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Esther
Community Member
4 years ago

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I think it should be more of a solidarity thing. Of course men football competitions bring more money into the pot, due to merchandise and sold tickets, but why isn´t it possible that the big companies like FIFA or UEFA share these incomes more equaliy. Just because men sports are more supported, doesn´t mean that women put less energy and time into their sports field. So if men football brings 400 billion dollars by tickets and merch. and women football brings 130 billion dollars, why not share the money more equaly. It´s not the womens fault, that society isn´t already supporting the idea of women playing football as much as they support men playing it. Maybe if women earned more, it would be more interesting for girls to start playing.... The professional men football players earn such an enormous amount of money....to me it´s just ridiculous........sorry for any grammar mistakes, i´m no native.

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dongpavdk avatar
DP von Icecream
Community Member
4 years ago (edited)

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This was also an issue for the Dutch women's soccer team & before the World Cup this was altered & changed. Now they earn the exact same amount as the Dutch male soccer team. And like the Dutch men, according typical "DUTCH WORLD CUP SOCCER TRADITION": THESE WOMEN ALSO LOST IN THE FINALS, JUST LIKE THE MEN. F-ing great! Anyway the USA were the better player, the better team. Congrats USA with this deserved win!

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Luka Hamer
Community Member
4 years ago

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Funny how fragile male ego's downvote all comments in support of the women team and conveniently read over this part of the article: 'Domestically in the U.S. market, the women’s team are by far the more successful both on and off the pitch. US women’s soccer games now generate more revenue locally than men’s—but the players still earn less.'

cassfalcon avatar
Falcon
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

< Female that just down-voted you. You don't have to be male to understand basic maths.

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sky_2 avatar
SkyTheImaginer
Community Member
4 years ago

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Pff competition, I've seen the females team spill more blood than the mens.

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Rebecca Afzal
Community Member
4 years ago

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Look at the difference in salary cap between the men's and women's leagues. If it was just about revenue the caps should be the same and everyone should be paid what they are worth. The women are not allowed to make more then the highest players are already being paid.

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