Women Demand Equal Pay For U.S. Female Soccer Team, Men Try To List The Reasons Why They Shouldn’t In Response
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.”
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!
@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?
Load More Replies...They lost a match against the 15 and under boys national team.
Load More Replies...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.
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!
I beg to differ on the point that people won't pay to watch male nude dancers! Bring them on bro.
Load More Replies...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.
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.
Load More Replies...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?
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.
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!
The NBA completely subsidizes the WNBA as it is now...............not equal
Load More Replies...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.
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
Load More Replies...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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think the revenues generated by both teams should be added and equally shared between them...
Does anyone know if this revenue sharing model is anything like what they have in the NFL?
The same reason why swimmers, triathlonists, or pretty much any other stport(wo)man earn less than f*ckin football players. :/
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.
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.
Load More Replies...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.
Load More Replies...Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?
Load More Replies...Gender communism is about as legitimate of an economic system as any other form of communism.
Load More Replies...You realize the mens team gets 9% of revenue and the women get 13%? Just saying...
Load More Replies...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!
Load More Replies...Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?
Load More Replies...Other way around. The women get 13% and the men only get 9%.
Load More Replies...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. .
Load More Replies...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.
Load More Replies...It's not 130B vs 400B , it's $130M vs $6000M (2.1%)
Load More Replies...< Female that just down-voted you. You don't have to be male to understand basic maths.
Load More Replies...@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?
Load More Replies...They lost a match against the 15 and under boys national team.
Load More Replies...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.
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!
I beg to differ on the point that people won't pay to watch male nude dancers! Bring them on bro.
Load More Replies...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.
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.
Load More Replies...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?
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.
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!
The NBA completely subsidizes the WNBA as it is now...............not equal
Load More Replies...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.
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
Load More Replies...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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think the revenues generated by both teams should be added and equally shared between them...
Does anyone know if this revenue sharing model is anything like what they have in the NFL?
The same reason why swimmers, triathlonists, or pretty much any other stport(wo)man earn less than f*ckin football players. :/
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.
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.
Load More Replies...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.
Load More Replies...Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?
Load More Replies...Gender communism is about as legitimate of an economic system as any other form of communism.
Load More Replies...You realize the mens team gets 9% of revenue and the women get 13%? Just saying...
Load More Replies...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!
Load More Replies...Uh.... the men make 4% less than the women in FIFA's profit sharing system. So.... wanna rethink your comment?
Load More Replies...Other way around. The women get 13% and the men only get 9%.
Load More Replies...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. .
Load More Replies...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.
Load More Replies...It's not 130B vs 400B , it's $130M vs $6000M (2.1%)
Load More Replies...< Female that just down-voted you. You don't have to be male to understand basic maths.
Load More Replies...
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