In the year 2016 five athletes involved with the Women’s National Soccer Team,(Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo) went to the U.S Federation to claim equal pay rights when it comes to the World Cup prize money(New York Times.) In 2020 Federal Judge R. Gary Klausner when the lawsuit was reviewed he rejected the claim from USWNT stating that they receive “unequal pay and unequal work conditions”(NPR.) While the judge rejected certain claims from the lawsuit he did allow other reasons for the lawsuit to pass and with that information given to the public more light was shed on the problem and this allowed the public to make sure it became something that was known. One of the situations that took place was during a tournament the crowd started to chant “Equal Pay! Equal Pay!” and this allowed everyone to at least know it is an issue.
It took the federation 6 years to come to a conclusion of wanting to give the Women’s FIFA organization the ability for equal pay, and in February of 2022 they agreed to up the prize money for the World Cup from a guaranteed $30,000 for all participants which is a 60 percent increase to what it was before.(Slate.) Later in July of 2023 the FIFA federation expressed that the promise of $30,000 dollars to those who participate is no longer a guarantee.
There was more of an interest with the public when it was relieved that the prize money given to the Women’s winning team for the 2019 World Cup was about 4 million dollars when the Men’s winning team received 38 million dollars.(Slate.) Since the USWNT did “win” against the sports global leadership and the U.S Federation and had the ability to quadruple their prize money many were surprised to see that the Men’s team was still paid 3 times as much by being paid about $440 million dollars which when many found out including myself it was mind blowing .(NBC Los Angeles.) They also uncovered that for every dollar that the men receive the women are paid 25 cents.(CNN.)
The USWNT uses many reasons as to why they should have the ability to be paid the same as men. Their main reason for the lawsuit was based on gender discrimination against the U.S Soccer federation.(The New York Times) They used the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in their favor to prove that they have every right to be paid the same when they are doing the same thing as the men and even claiming that they are doing a better job than the men in the aspect of winning games/trophies .
Many had had a lot to say such as anything that the USWNT does not deserve to be paid equally since it is all about “revenue” (Tiktok.) In the video they bring up the fact that they aren’t getting paid the same amount since they aren’t bringing enough money or views like the men and it “would be no problem” to pay them equally if they performed equal to the men.(TikTok) Although they did have many supporting them just like anything else they also had people who disagreed and continued to bash the USWNT since they were seen that they were not worthy of the equal pay since “men contribute more” and it is “basic economics” as to why they aren’t receiving as much as the men (Tiktok.)
The Women’s FIFA was never taken seriously until 2019 since it took for 1 billion people to watch the World Cup for the FIFA President to take them seriously and finally divide the broadcasting money to go into their pool of prize money.(TikTok.) Considering the end outcome of the situation technically they did “win” their lawsuit but still it is no where near what the men are paid nor given the same treatments/equipment which is something else they filled within the lawsuit and still there was something done but personally seen as the bare minimum.They allowed the claim to be rewarded to have the ability to say that they did do something so we can all move forward from the situation. In the future there will be more done on the situation especially if the public continues to express the importance of it and not let it be a buried issue once again.