This page was created by Collin Hardwick. 

Gender Pay Gap in Sports

2016 The USWNT Has Had Enough

After the amazing performance and revenue that was secured by the USWNT in 2015, five of the team’s star athletes - Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn - filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the United States Soccer Federation (Chappell). Having shown that they were more than capable of competing with the popularity of men’s soccer, they found it insulting that most of the team was paid less than their male counterparts despite bringing in higher revenue and better performance. 

The report alleges that despite smashing projections in 2015 and bringing in 17.7 million dollars in revenue, the women’s team was paid almost 4 times less than the men’s team (Chappell). Thus they submitted the report saying that the USSF was breaking federal law for not offering similar compensation for a similar performance (ThinkProgress). 

The complaint was legitimate and succeeded in calling out the USSF. Soon after, the Soccer Federation engaged in negotiations with the women’s team to reach a new collective bargaining agreement (ThinkProgress).

Top image source: U.S.W.N.T. Players Association, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/sports/us-womens-soccer-pay.html

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